Example sentences of "can only [be] [noun] " in BNC.

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1 The exact origins of the ferret can only be guesswork , but either descendants of the polecat line or variations on the resultant interbreeding between stoats and polecats may have given us the ferret we know today .
2 It can only be silf .
3 But these , too , though usually carefully reasoned , can only be assumptions .
4 ‘ Then it can only be Benedict .
5 I know the other ladies will understand — but for our leading lady there can only be orchids ! ’
6 Taking these two points into consideration leads us to the conclusion that meaningful chain dimensions can only be values averaged over the many conformations assumed .
7 Whether personal acrimony stimulated Loder can only be surmise , but it is certainly likely that Bill Saxby , jocked off Craganour after the Two Thousand Guineas , would not be bending over backwards to support that horse 's cause in the enquiry in which , as rider of Louvois , he was called to give evidence .
8 They could even have proven to be the negative experience of small ethnic enclaves defending themselves in hostile environments , but even this viewpoint can only be speculation .
9 You should be well aware that evolution can only be viewed with hindsight , and whether our species ' rapacious predatory record will prove successful in the long term can only be speculation .
10 It can only be obtuseness or a refusal to believe that can still lead the Opposition to make that claim .
11 Stone floor panels dating from 883–612BC , uncovered in the Assyrian royal palaces at Nimrud , Balawat and Nineveh , contain patterns that are generally accepted as carpet designs ; thee are also a number of reliefs and carvings showing men carrying what can only be tapestries or rugs .
12 In the other groups the figure with the thunderbolt can only be Zeus though he rarely lacks a beard .
13 ‘ This is why food packaging products can only be 50% recycled .
14 If they sell someone else this week to a Spanish or Italian club ( I assume it can only be Macca or Rocastle ) then they want shooting .
15 Now I suppose for most of us because of the very fact were here this morning they have been few and far between such experiences , perhaps what is more common is that we may have spent time with someone who was dying , their last few hours , their last few minutes , and if they were not unconscious I wonder what sort of conversation would be going on between us and them , what sort of things would we , would we of been saying , what would we be asking us , well in this passage that we have been reading we have just such a conversation , two men who are on the verge of death , death can only be hours away for both of them , and here they have this conversation , it was in that sense it was one of the strangest interviews any body ever had with Jesus not only is the , the account here of er a death bed conversion , but the one who is saving is also in the process of dying .
16 Death , it can only be hours away for both of them and here they have this conversation .
17 Education has become part of the political battleground , and its transformation into a non-racial system can only be part of a much broader transformation of society .
18 Measures of fit , in the context of the present study , can only be approximations .
19 Limitations of this system at present are that subjects can only be studies in the supine position within the magnet , thus imposing constraints on both posture and movement .
20 The provision as to three months ' notice has to be read with the limitation that there can only be dismissal for good cause .
21 There can only be description , he wrote , The Big Glass .
22 Most users believe that the drug is less harmful than the tobacco it is rolled with , but this can only be supposition given the lack of knowledge surrounding the drug 's long-term effects .
23 The list , however , is hardly impressive and , as in East Anglia , it looks as though Gloucester was acquiring the service of individuals rather than building up a coherent connection — although , in the absence of receivers ' accounts for the duke 's Welsh lordships , this can only be inference .
24 The list , however , is hardly impressive and , as in East Anglia , it looks as though Gloucester was acquiring the service of individuals rather than building up a coherent connection — although , in the absence of receivers ' accounts for the duke 's Welsh lordships , this can only be inference .
25 ‘ We can only be pessimists before breakfast . ’
26 It can only be canvas .
27 can only be fabliau .
28 ‘ The result can only be health care services which have virtually no real accountability or contact with the local community , ’ he said .
29 Therefore there must be a First Cause which itself is uncaused ; and this can only be God .
30 Peace should be ours too , within the church family , and the origin can only be God .
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