Example sentences of "had [adv] be a " in BNC.
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| 1 | But the whole experience left me ruefully feeling that it had perhaps been a mistake to publish a report about them . |
| 2 | The weekend at Carberry had been well received , though the Saturday had perhaps been a little heavy for the participants . |
| 3 | The centre of the discussion was the school curriculum ; and it was frequently observed at the time that this was the first occasion on which politicians or the public at large had concerned themselves with what had hitherto been a wholly professional matter . |
| 4 | What had hitherto been a sporadic , locally-based protest movement directed against specific wars thus acquired an international dimension of steadily increasing significance and coalesced around these two much broader issues which are of considerably more lasting and widespread concern . |
| 5 | Milton remarked that this chair had hitherto been a sinecure , though it carried a salary of over £100 per annum and would ‘ serve any gentleman especially a law[y]er ’ . |
| 6 | However , by adept diplomacy , he was able to impose a form of pax Britannica on what had hitherto been a turbulent part of Africa and thereby maintain the conditions best suited for fostering trade . |
| 7 | There was further a need to replace what had hitherto been a haphazard method of payment by a more formalised scheme involving the payment of a specified sum on the completion of each flat . |
| 8 | ’ As the influence of Cézanne grew , so that of Gauguin , who had hitherto been an important influence in the work of the Fauves , waned . |
| 9 | Bonn officials last night played down the extent of the last-minute rethink of their tactics at Strasbourg and one said that it had all been a ‘ silly misunderstanding ’ . |
| 10 | He would come exuberantly into the office after ops with his crew tagging along behind him , to tell us that our weather forecast had been spot on , it had all been a piece of cake , bombs went down — Wham ! — right on the target , no trouble at all , good show ! , and here they were back on the old tarmac , cheating death again , etc . |
| 11 | Drugged again , they regained consciousness outside the valley in anguish that it had all been a dream . |
| 12 | Within Dotty 's hearing a home pirate remarked that he thought it had all been a storm in a teacup . |
| 13 | On some mornings the ducks on Three Island Pond would take off in great arcing flights against the sun , round and behind the Cages and out of sight , round again and behind the distant trees and then suddenly back again as if it had all been a mistake and they had never meant to fly off in the first place . |
| 14 | After so long thinking that the reason for our kidnap had been bad feeling between Britain and Iran , and knowing that , before the Rushdie affair at least , fences had been mended , it was hard to believe now that it had all been a mirage . |
| 15 | It had all been a dream ; perhaps she 'd never even left it . |
| 16 | And then I made a mistake , I felt it had all been a sacrifice in vain , I felt I had to make him appreciate what I 'd done , that he ought to let me go — so I tried to tell him . |
| 17 | Now she finally had to admit that it had all been a total failure . |
| 18 | But it had all been a sham . |
| 19 | Now he saw it had all been a sham . |
| 20 | He had rendered her almost mindless there and it had all been a cheap trick , not even part of his wish to get her to accept her father . |
| 21 | But it had all been a trick , a dreadful trick . |
| 22 | She had been convinced at first that it had all been a mistake , that she had indeed misread the unspoken message contained in the postcard . |
| 23 | Perhaps it really had all been a terrible misunderstanding . |
| 24 | But it had all been a bluff . |
| 25 | Surely they realised that it had all been a mistake once you explained ? ’ |
| 26 | It had all been a trick , all that sweet , hot loving , that tenderness , just a cruel device to help him find out what she knew . |
| 27 | It had all been a far cry from the excitement of her engagement to the handsome young houseman when the Stevenses had celebrated with a party in the garden of their home . |
| 28 | And as if it had all been a bad dream , Tara wakes up soon after . |
| 29 | Perhaps it had all been a dream . |
| 30 | That had all been an act , partly to lull the Men into trusting him but also , Creggan now realized , to hide the same feelings as they all had in captivity : a game to while away the endless waiting . |