Example sentences of "was [not/n't] [adv] [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The proportion of people initially becoming unemployed as a result of the coming to an end of a temporary job who found a new job within 10 months of initial registration was not markedly different from the proportion applying to the total sample , even after taking age into account . |
| 2 | Her tone was not exactly friendly , but its harshness was of bemused disbelief rather than jealous suspicion . |
| 3 | Your reaction was not exactly innocent in spite of your looks . ’ |
| 4 | He was not exactly ill-mannered , Sara decided , but more like an inquisitive child . |
| 5 | For a long time I was not exactly sure what I wanted from Project 81 . |
| 6 | As far as she could see nothing had been taken but then she was not exactly sure of all their contents . |
| 7 | When he came to tell her , thinking she would be pleased ( though , as he knew she suspected , he was not exactly pleased himself ) she stared at him in disbelief and said over and over ‘ Not go ? not go ? ’ like a parrot . |
| 8 | The footballer as sex symbol was not exactly new — Dixie Dean had been the subject of female interest and cited in at least one paternity suit — but the avidity of the press for salacious gossip and the relentless pursuit of young footballers , who were suddenly rich and emotionally immature , was new . |
| 9 | Or they could tell themselves that they belonged to a European Community from which they were in fact , until very recently , separated by a long stretch of communist-occupied territory ; and that too was not exactly convincing . |
| 10 | Lydia was not exactly terrified , but she was sitting very , very still so that if there was the slightest noise she could be quite certain that it was not she who had caused it . |
| 11 | Van Helmont 's integration of science and religion was not exactly orthodox . |
| 12 | A man who had turned his own son out of the house was not exactly comfortable as a father-in-law . |
| 13 | She seemed to realise that this comment was not exactly reassuring and hastened to make amends . |
| 14 | Robert was not exactly jealous of the headmaster — he could not remember meeting anyone less sexually threatening . |
| 15 | As a rule non-parliamentary taxation fell on the shoulders of those who were better able to bear it , and hence was not exactly unpopular . |
| 16 | His comment — ‘ I skied a great run — almost perfect ’ — was not exactly vintage Billy Johnson but the Swiss fans ecstatically tolling their cow bells were beyond caring . |
| 17 | She was not exactly beautiful , nor could she be classed as altogether pretty , in the strictly conventional sense of the word . |
| 18 | The cottage itself was not exactly pretty : red-brick and foursquare , it had been built for a farm labourer and his family in the middle of the last century . |
| 19 | He might also have noticed that her dark hair was touched with grey and that although she was not exactly smart there was a kind of elegance about her . |
| 20 | Aunt Emily was not exactly ill , at least she had no definable complaint , but she rested a good deal , more and more , and every day seemed happier to let Alexandra take over the household decisions . |
| 21 | I remember being struck at once by his gaiety and warmth , and the way these two characteristics gave a face that was not exactly good-looking , in fact had an element of the grotesque in its narrow axe-like boniness under the untidy mop of black hair — a face seen in an elongating fun-fair mirror — an aspect of compelling charm , almost of beauty . ’ |
| 22 | These latter were nearly all middle-aged or C3 with bad eyesight , so the outlook was not exactly exhilarating . |
| 23 | The atmosphere was not exactly lively but I continued to have lunch there for a long time because she was extremely kind and the food was good . |
| 24 | Despite the fact that he had drawn a cord between his previous life and the present one , he was not exactly lonely . |
| 25 | Mother was really a good cook but that oven was not exactly reliable — indeed , I do not know how she managed to get such nice things out of it . |
| 26 | But I do know that great-aunt was not exactly popular after the incident of the farm sale , and eventually John Bell left her so her brother , Great-Uncle William , came to work the farm . |
| 27 | Well , she was not exactly overjoyed to have him acting as her chauffeur , either ! |
| 28 | It was not qualitatively different on the eve of the French Revolution from what it had been during the reign of Louis XIV . |
| 29 | This was partly because he was not exceptionally bright while being at the same time exceptionally unimaginative , but it was also because odd carvings and perilous tunnels were all in a day 's work . |
| 30 | He was not utterly Reverend for a start : he kept bees , but he also boxed , ruggered and rowed with the same poise he showed as a raconteur . |