Example sentences of "can [adv] have [be] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | This is a split that can rarely have been witnessed in Glasgow — which does not indicate that he was at fault in consulting his analyst , but does indicate that these autobiographies are sited in very different places . |
| 2 | But descriptions do no justice to a design in which the vision of St John on Patmos can rarely have been so imaginatively conceived . |
| 3 | Having observed Thatcher 's boorish behaviour , Abse comments : ‘ Such a jealous and ruthless super-ego can only have been formed by a prohibiting mother who is brusque and prematurely insists upon early toilet training . ’ |
| 4 | Now , I do n't think we know what was the exact Sterling equivalent of the fall in our reserves during the last financial year , but it can only have been a minority of that total of £1and1/2 ; billion of public expenditure which was met neither by the product of taxation nor by borrowing from the public . |
| 5 | But even at this date the alteration in emphasis can only have been a conscious attempt to attune to the wider audience , if still at that time mainly within Bavaria , which was beginning to show interest in Hitler in 1923 , and an awareness that anti-Marxism had a wider potential appeal than the mere repetition of anti-Jewish paroxysms of hate . |
| 6 | For these , it seems obvious , Hitler 's public association with the radical ‘ solution of the Jewish Question ’ and the linking of the Führer to the widespread knowledge and rumours of the extermination of the Jews in the east , can only have been a further negative feature of his image . |
| 7 | John Poole was a man of high Tory opinions , and the motive for introducing him to Coleridge and Southey can only have been mischievous . |
| 8 | The South Saxons whose numbers we shall never know with any accuracy , built up a complex Wealden farming system , backed by a communication network that can only have been an extension of the lesser economic roads of the Romano-Britons . |
| 9 | And I can only have been about nine when a schoolfriend proudly showed snaps of her mother fancy-dressed as ‘ No-one loves a fairy when she 's 40 ’ . |
| 10 | Later , two men took me into a corner and fired questions at me for what seemed like ages , but can only have been about half an hour . |
| 11 | Between these extremes conditions varied endlessly , with so many towns sharing the social structure of their rural environments that cases of exceptional wealth can only have been the outcome of special circumstances . |
| 12 | Sharp rises in the national export statistics in both 1523–4 and 152 rule out any general depression ; any unemployment can only have been temporary and localised , as the disorders in the eastern counties were not repeated on the same scale anywhere . |
| 13 | Such a performance can only have been intended for entertainment in a programme of venationes and gladiatorial combats . |
| 14 | Although it hardly seemed to notice the Hooligan affair , and its only immediate response was a front-page poem ‘ Hot Weather and Crime ’ which can only have been intended as a slap in the face for The Times leader on ‘ The Weather and the Streets ’ : The message was clear enough : if it took crime and violence to attract the attention of the mighty to the lives of the poor , then so be it . |
| 15 | If Herod felt threatened by a recently born child , it can only have been because of what the child intrinsically was — a rightful king , for example , with a claim to the throne which even Rome , in the interests of peace and stability , might recognise . |
| 16 | The entry into Jerusalem can only have been made with the calculated design of identifying himself , very specifically in the eyes of the populace , with the expected Messiah — in other words , with the rightful king , the ‘ anointed one ’ . |
| 17 | It can only have been back projection , travelling matte or some combination of the two . ) |
| 18 | They can only have been insignia marking the lady 's status as a royal consort . |
| 19 | Elsewhere there is not even the clue of a sentence in Pindar to show who was behind some great construction : Segesta , for instance , a long way over in the interior of the west of the island , had a fine fifth-century temple , the expenses of whose construction can only have been met ( given the position of the city ) from agricultural wealth , that is , from the product of the labour of the native Sikels . |
| 20 | But if one manages to gain their confidence the reward is a feast of learning and interesting comment which can only have been acquired by a lifetime spent largely in reading . |
| 21 | This build would ensure the smallest possible surface area through which to lose heat , though the effect in well-insulated subjects can only have been trivial . |
| 22 | Then , as we neared the entrance , a ship came up astern , and she can only have been one of Everard 's sailing barges coming up on the tide . |
| 23 | Some of these diplomatic operations can only have been performed for the gratification of the Jews themselves . |
| 24 | In the meantime , of course , he had become a Schopenhauerian , the relevant effect of which can only have been to confirm the validity of his preoccupation with music and his suspicion of the new musical idiom . |
| 25 | The recommendation can only have been based on the interests of cost-cutting , not of justice . |
| 26 | ‘ It can only have been the smell of the mothballs . ’ |
| 27 | ( Ironically , there can only have been months between the publication of Hutchinson 's boastful book and calling in the liquidators ) . |
| 28 | It can not have been easy for an ordinand or a curate to stand up to contemptuous persiflage about his religion from one of the ablest minds of the generation who happened to be his own brother . |
| 29 | The observation that the period of the sleep/wake rhythm differs from 24 hours is important because it indicates that environmental cues can not have been responsible . |
| 30 | And Robert Donat can not have been the only one who complained to Korda about a ‘ silly and unproductive attitude towards scripts ’ , which he credited as being at ‘ the root of the failure of so many British films . ’ |