Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] for " in BNC.

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1 It might have been a delayed reaction to the drugs I had been taking for an operation I 'd recently had on my foot , but this seemed unlikely .
2 I am convinced that stuff had been accumulating for many years in this cellar and that Ernest Griffiths had no idea what was in there .
3 Then Andy took his wedge , which he had been swinging for the last ten minutes , and hit the perfect , or apparently perfect shot , straight at the flag .
4 The US and North Korean governments had been communicating for several years at a low level through the US embassy in Beijing .
5 He scored another victory recently when the Labour Party abolished the unions ' block vote in the leadership elections , something he had been advocating for ages .
6 In the early hours of Sunday 13 February 1692 , Captain Campbell , from a clan hostile to the Macdonalds , along with 120 of his soldiers , whom the Macdonalds had been entertaining for the previous fortnight , suddenly fell upon their hosts and butchered them , shooting Macdonald himself in the back and killing nearly 70 men , women and children .
7 Since he 'd arrived at Montpelier Square he had been listening for the slightest movement elsewhere in the flat .
8 Alexei had been listening for other footsteps coming along the bridge .
9 Long 's health had been deteriorating for years , but he had kept open his channels of communication ; like Law his influence was based on years of devotion to the interests of the party , and like Law 's that influence had been used to argue the case for coalition .
10 A report to the meeting said services to the region had been deteriorating for several years , with fewer trains running at less flexible times .
11 A report to the meeting said services to the region had been deteriorating for several years , with fewer trains at less flexible times .
12 He had been speaking for some five minutes or more with force and conviction , carried away by the things which concerned him greatly .
13 Indeed , I recall being present at a formal state banquet in Malawi when the Life President , His Excellency the very elderly Dr Hastings Banda , had been speaking for 45 minutes proposing the toast and had still only reached 1947 .
14 Both countries had been speaking for some time of their desire to improve relations , without making much progress .
15 Film shown on Algerian television that same evening recorded that he had been speaking for some minutes .
16 One student looking for employment had finished his grant entitlement in the first quarter of 1984 , and had been job-seeking for six months ( Table 7.2 ) .
17 To judge by the clutter of bottles , glasses , and over-filled ashtrays , and the brooding , weary faces , they had been debating for many hours .
18 Many had been decomposing for several weeks .
19 Eve had n't known that Birdie Mac who ran the sweet shop had a man from Ballylee who had been calling for fifteen years , but she would n't leave her old mother and the man from Ballylee would n't come to Knockglen .
20 The foundation of a national Board of Education signalled the acceptance within the official culture of a need for policies that would co-ordinate an efficient and fully national system of education , and also allowed the voices of dons who had been calling for a transformation of the traditional curriculum to carry more weight than ever before .
21 Other Administration figures had been calling for Bush to boycott the meeting , on the grounds that the US was coming in for excessive criticism .
22 Women 's Aid and the Domestic Violence Working Group — a body composed of those encountering the results of domestic violence — had been calling for clarification in the law since the decision .
23 Well they were , the ward committee had been seeking for a , a candidate , but I had no opposition at that time at all .
24 This was reportedly a concession which US oil companies had been seeking for some time .
25 as if whatever he had done had cut him off from the mercy he had been seeking for so long .
26 By the time he and Norman strode out to try to win the 1986 British Open , Bender had been caddying for eighteen years , having picked up his first serious bag when he was 18 years old .
27 Most of the sample group ( 82 per cent ) had been using for over two years before they first sought treatment .
28 These solutions , which involved old technology , simply applied to the ocean freighter what railroads and truckers had been using for 30 years .
29 The City and the Confederation of British Industry had been looking for some indication of earlier participation in the exchange rate mechanism of the EMS .
30 At the big house I met the Officer who had been looking for me earlier on .
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