Example sentences of "can [adv] have [be] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | ‘ Well , if he was repairing the machinery , it ca n't have been safe in the first place , can it ? ’ |
| 2 | ‘ There ca n't have been a toad . |
| 3 | Ian Botham ca n't have been expecting to have such a free winter , but he 's certainly filling it innovatively with a national tour of his show , An Evening With Ian Botham . |
| 4 | We knew he was the owner of the club and — while he ca n't have been more than four-foot-nine inches tall — we knew that Soho was run by Maltese gangsters just like him . |
| 5 | It ca n't have been the script , which tried unconvincingly to suggest multiple reconciliation under the spell of the Castello Brown ( the castle 's real-life name , believe me or not ) and then petered out , as if the adaptor had given up and left the cast to improvise . |
| 6 | At the Brixton Academy one stated : ‘ Last night , there ca n't have been two hundred people at the gig and I sold twice as many burgers and hot dogs than I did today . |
| 7 | It ca n't have been very pleasant for the sand-martin , but for me it was a magical moment ; to possess , momentarily , such a beautiful , wild creature . |
| 8 | There are holes in your pullover , your Barbour is in the last stage of decrepitude and your trousers ca n't have been near a press in months . |
| 9 | In that era , so much of the day was spent climbing in and out of the correct clothes that there ca n't have been much time left for recreation . |
| 10 | It ca n't have been like that really , though I believe records show that the summers in the late Twenties and early Thirties were warm and dry . |
| 11 | Home-grown teenagers look at their parents and think , ‘ I ca n't have been produced by them ! |
| 12 | We made love again , and we must have been tired , because it ca n't have been less than two hours later that I woke up . |
| 13 | I mean , Bohemian Rhapsody ca n't have been a picnic … |
| 14 | What the figures do n't show is the effect of the overall increase in labour turnover on standards : it ca n't have been good , and this helps account for some of the loss of business . |
| 15 | ‘ You ca n't have been expected to know . |
| 16 | ‘ She ca n't have been more than seventy , ’ Barbara said with a hint of anxiety ; she herself was in her middle-sixties . |
| 17 | ‘ That ca n't have been easy . ’ |
| 18 | There 's a sort of cosy sentimental glow coming over everyone who 's talking about , it ca n't have been all that wonderful , all the time somehow ! |
| 19 | Ca n't have been . |
| 20 | ‘ It ca n't have been lost . |
| 21 | ‘ Ca n't have been , ’ said Lydia . |
| 22 | It ca n't have been that important . ’ |
| 23 | But then , hell , he should know — there ca n't have been many other pop entertainers from the Cheshire market town to play here . |
| 24 | It ca n't have been my ear . ’ |
| 25 | I ca n't have been there . ’ |
| 26 | There ca n't have been above half a dozen universities teaching drama and Bristol was the only one that was really reputed then . |
| 27 | ‘ Ca n't have been the same girl then . ’ |
| 28 | ‘ There ca n't have been anything added to it . ’ |
| 29 | ‘ You ca n't have been in the last war , ’ said Tallboy invitingly . |
| 30 | It ca n't have been anything I 've said , or can it ? ’ he added as she closed her eyes . |