Example sentences of "be like [v-ing] [to-vb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clarke had said the same thing and she had tried desperately to comply but it had been like trying to lay hold of darting butterflies . |
| 2 | To put Labour in charge would be like trying to douse a fire with kerosene . |
| 3 | Trying to recreate something as well-known as Layla must be like trying to forge a Picasso . |
| 4 | It all sounded so polite and formal , when what she really wanted was to put her arms around him and have him hold her , kiss her , tell her that he had forgiven her , but that would be like trying to turn the clock back , and there was no way they could do that . |
| 5 | It would be like trying to stop a buffalo , because he was nothing but muscle , weight and bone . |
| 6 | It would be like trying to fill the Pacific Ocean with pebbles thrown into the waves . |
| 7 | As I told a couple of surveyors I met at the ground earlier today , ‘ Building on here would be like trying to wallpaper a Slumberland mattress . ’ |
| 8 | As an exercise in thinking about the unthinkable , the point is a counter to the idea of ‘ tactical ’ nuclear war as a first step in the ladder of escalation but , equally , it might be like trying to avoid any unwanted delays in Russian roulette by starting with a fully loaded gun . |
| 9 | But unless you spend the night before patiently reserving your patch , finding a prime viewing spot can be like trying to catch the tube in the morning rush hour . |
| 10 | It would be like returning to resit an examination in which we have not done well enough to proceed to another level of our education . |
| 11 | She could n't imagine what it would be like having to get into bed with the elegant stranger who turned to speak to her now and then . |
| 12 | For thirty minutes it is like trying to push a marshmallow into a coinbox . |
| 13 | It is like trying to push on a piece of string : it can not be done . |
| 14 | ‘ Trying to talk to you is like trying to charge through a brick wall . |
| 15 | The view through the small rear mirror is rather limited , as Jill Stanton has mentioned before , and the manual wing mirrors are so stiff that trying to fine-tune them is like trying to thread a needle wearing boxing gloves . |
| 16 | To ask us to strike meaningful comparisons across such a technological gulf is like trying to compare a theory of the origins of the universe based on observations through Galileo 's lens with one facilitated by radio telescope . |
| 17 | Laser beams consist of photons which , though small by atomic standards , have a cumulative inertial effect , Dr Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado , who heads one research group , says that cooling an atom with a laser beam is like trying to slow down movement of a heavy object by bombarding it with ping-pong balls . |
| 18 | It is like trying to predict the outcome of a game of chess before anyone has made a move . |
| 19 | Trying to snatch a word with you is like trying to hold on to a fistful of quicksilver . ’ |
| 20 | It is like trying to ladle out the sea with a sieve . ) |
| 21 | Trying to raise efficiency and morale without first setting this structure to rights is like trying to lay bricks without mortar . |
| 22 | Alas , being the best man at an actor 's wedding is like trying to direct an actor who wants to direct . |
| 23 | Propping up the pound is like trying to get water to run uphill . |
| 24 | It is like trying to get a firm grip on a plateful of pudding . |
| 25 | Again , the control layout would bother me because the volume pot for the bridge pickup is the middle of the three , but I think I could get used to it — although at present it is like trying to get used to driving a new car where they 've put the gearstick in the middle of the passenger seat . |
| 26 | To force together two protons that are initially far apart , for example those in two separate hydrogen atoms , is like trying to encourage the two north poles of a pair of magnets to join at a distance of less than a billionth of a millimetre . |
| 27 | Now , neither Souness nor the Liverpool fans have any idea how the team is going to perform on any given day and trying to predict that is like trying to find eight draws . |
| 28 | Adjusting to the disjointed ordering of time is like trying to adjust to the idea of massing all one 's sleeping hours into the first couple of weeks of the month to have the remaining two weeks wide awake . |
| 29 | Maintaining that sum of money ( which 20 years ago was the threshold of affluence ) is like trying to keep a snowball in your pocket by waiting until winter comes . |
| 30 | Building a complex structure by evolution is like trying to build a mortarless arch if you are allowed to touch only one stone at a time . |