Example sentences of "can [not/n't] [verb] [pn reflx] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | History indicates that general practice is not so demanding that unqualified people can not pass themselves off as principals for many years and get away with it . |
| 2 | If the situation lasts for a long time with no sign of improvement , you should discuss the future very carefully with the doctor or hospital specialist , rather than trying to cope in a hopeless situation which can not resolve itself . |
| 3 | It will not happen because the House can not reform itself ; it can only act with the permission of the executive . |
| 4 | Officials and administrators can not divest themselves of all ideological clothing in the advice which they tender to their political masters , or in the independent decisions which they are in a position to take . |
| 5 | The character of Josef ( played with great skill by David De Keyser ) is sadly amusing — a writer who has abandoned his country and family for freedom of expression , he can not express himself in an artistic or commercial way . |
| 6 | You may have a perfectionist on your hands ‘ The problem can arise when a child who is quite bright is aware that she can not express herself equally well on paper , ’ explains educational psychologist Dr Judith Haynes of Child Consultants . |
| 7 | For he makes me feel like a light-bulb that can not switch itself off . |
| 8 | ‘ Always I ask myself this , but I can not answer myself . ’ |
| 9 | Even in disguise I knew her at once , for a truly sensual woman can not disguise herself from my perceptions once I have seen her . ’ |
| 10 | He can not manoeuvre himself into the correct position . |
| 11 | Are you saying that there are molecules out there in space which we just can not form ourselves in a laboratory ? |
| 12 | The author of a social study of Norwich reasoned that as ‘ Unemployment is partly a problem of education ’ , so ‘ a half-trained or untrained man can not adapt himself easily and rapidly to the endless changes of production under modern conditions . ’ |
| 13 | Eventually he falls asleep , one arm outflung across her breasts so that she does not dare move it for fear of waking him , and , constricted , can not sleep herself . |
| 14 | Early in a baby 's development she perceives her body and the external world as an undifferentiated unity ; the baby can not distinguish herself as subject from external ( objective ) reality . |
| 15 | For all that it remains an object which can not move itself or save itself from destruction . |
| 16 | It is a friendly act of mutual benefit to the two animals involved , since they can not groom themselves in this region . |
| 17 | The second list tells you which foods naturally contain those items — but remember , if you really can not bring yourself to eat a particular range of foods , it is always possible to take the lacking vitamin in tablet form . |
| 18 | It may mean some gentle but very straight talking , if your parent does not realise your need to have time alone with your friends , but if you can not bring yourself to establish this right , you will have precious little hope of organising any other social activities that will give you a break from daily routine . |
| 19 | Electors are always prepared to criticise the Government in answer to pollsters ' questions , but when the same individuals arrive at the polling booth they simply can not bring themselves to vote Labour into power . |
| 20 | But , for all the familiar historical reasons , they can not bring themselves to take decisive steps to tighten the ring around the IRA south of the border . |
| 21 | Under the pressure of the age-discrimination lobby , people have half-learned the lesson , but they can not bring themselves to believe in aptitude , rather than age . |
| 22 | Many are crazed gamblers who can not bring themselves to walk away with winnings . |
| 23 | If a bench of two justices can not bring themselves thus to dispose of the case there was no other sensible construction of section 9(2) then that a bench of three must become seized of the matter , rehear the evidence and comply with the statute , i.e. convict or acquit on the evidence . |
| 24 | For most mentally-ill people are being looked after in the community anyway , by relatives and friends who can not bring themselves to have the people they love locked away . |
| 25 | And the principal point of agreement is the agreement between the neurotic prohibition , which like the taboo , is something that the neurotic can not bring themselves to do , fears for the consequences if they do do it , and er , feels constrained by some irrational force er , to obey , even though it is n't rational . |
| 26 | As to the first , looking at the record since 1987 , I can not bring myself to say that the Conservatives have earned victory . |
| 27 | But , as long as they are in my hands , I can not bring myself to destroy any more , or anything written by you . |
| 28 | ( I can not bring myself to follow the grotesque habit which Methodists seem to have learned from the Labour Party of dropping the definite article and so ‘ Conference does this or that ’ never ‘ The Conference . ’ ) |
| 29 | Or suppose that I am eating escargots for the first time and can not bring myself to forget the disgustingly slimy look and feel of snails in the garden . |
| 30 | ‘ It 's a very rare model , but while I ca n't get fired up to restoring it at the moment , I just can not bring myself to sell it , ’ is Gordon 's dilemma . |