Example sentences of "he [modal v] to [be] " in BNC.

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1 The old man is sitting under a tree , and a young girl is near him ; I think he is blind — at least , he ought to be .
2 Raven pushed at the bishop that he ought to be in an academic post and soon .
3 About this time he started to wonder whether he ought to be a monk .
4 Ramsey entered this conference with a reputation outside England as well as inside it ; and the proceedings of the conference confirmed the opinion of a lot of bishops that he ought to be their next leader .
5 ‘ It is , of course , precisely what he ought to be seeing , ’ he agreed , reluctantly .
6 Saying that he ought to be able to get through a closed door as easily as an open one , Swift is supposed to have left him standing on the doorstep .
7 He knew he ought to be afraid of her , yet he found himself returning her smile with an easy grin and enjoying his jam sandwich to the very last crumb .
8 North once offered Calero a bullet-proof vest — ‘ the same sort the President wears ’ — Only to find Calero shocked at the implication that he ought to be looking danger in the face .
9 Tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of her first-born , of how he ought to be here , a part of the family circle .
10 It was remarkably clean and well-maintained , and all the lights worked but Clive felt as if he ought to be wearing a pith helmet , and carrying a hunting rifle that could bring down a charging rhino at fifty paces .
11 Both Sonatas are cleanly played , but the inner momentum of Rachmaninov 's first movement is lost : Yo-Yo Ma too often takes a back seat when he ought to be showing the lead , and this affects the balance .
12 Slithering north in the rain the next day , he thought he ought to be commended for speaking the truth , for what it was worth , which was little .
13 He ought to be a twelve or a thirteen , he 's so good .
14 Then one could say ‘ You 've forgotten what it must feel like ’ ; this time he ought to be aware of the pain .
15 As for the metaphor of ‘ law ’ , its persisting power is evident whenever someone , pondering the determinist thesis that even his own actions are ‘ bound by ’ , are ‘ subject to ’ , ‘ obey ’ the laws of nature , finds himself thinking as though he ought to be conscious of his own resisting will , as he is when submitting to human laws .
16 Dr Spink said : ‘ He ought to be defending those who are finding it difficult to make ends meet here . ’
17 Instead of Bible teaching , he ought to be translating fine words into deeds .
18 Paul remembered the Colonel , an old martinet who was one of those who had made it evident that he ought to be at home helping his mother .
19 Ramsay was in two minds as to whether it was wise to allow himself to be bottled up in the town when his place arguably was with the Regent ; but he decided that he might possibly play a more useful part here as Seton 's assistant — and he ought to be able to escape by boat , at night , if necessary .
20 Just that perhaps he ought to be respected ! ’
21 He ought to be quite an interesting young man . ’
22 In the words of the headmaster , this is a school which is ‘ more interested in a child 's today than his tomorrow — in where the child is now in relation to where he was , rather than in relation to our expectations of where he ought to be ’ .
23 In return , William was required to recognize that , since the fief he held of the bishop was now larger than those any other lord had bestowed on him , he ought to be ‘ a better man ’ of the bishop than of any of his other lords .
24 He said , ‘ He ought to be locked up , vicious loony like that , ’ and stood up .
25 This document , which was rich in wounding phrases , was by no means unwelcome to Chamberlain , particularly as it ended with a fairly clear hint that he ought to be the new leader .
26 Once TOPIC and SEAQ screens had been introduced into a firm , the dealer could check what approximate price he ought to be getting , to be varied by what the firm took off or added to quote its price " net " of commission .
27 I said " the words he ought to be able to spell " .
28 He wondered if he ought to be very formal .
29 Consequently , Julius Caesar was dressed in Elizabethan costume because no one thought that he ought to be dressed any differently .
30 There had begun to develop in Minton a dichotomy between the praise he received and what he felt he ought to be .
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