Example sentences of "[was/were] [conj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | It did not really matter who we were or where we had come from ; the fountain united us all in a common purpose and that was enough . |
| 2 | Here he could live in virtually complete seclusion , at a fraction of the cost it would take in northern Europe or Canada ; where the people were unconcerned as to who you were or what you did ; and where breathtaking vistas opened up for the seeing — both external and internal . |
| 3 | Then , by an extraordinary fortune , the three Cambridge chairs of divinity which were or could be in his field of study fell vacant within three years . |
| 4 | Whether his books were or were not weighty , he thought for himself , and was no man 's copy . |
| 5 | In other words , they bowled them out for 83 , Extras top-scoring with 21 ; since most of the team either were or would be Test players , that feeling of contentment must have seemed well justified . |
| 6 | We rushed out of the building and started running along the street , hardly knowing where we were or where we were going , until we felt we had put enough distance between us and the reception . |
| 7 | The results were or little significance at the time . |
| 8 | What disturbances there had been or might be were or would be caused entirely by ‘ a body of persons opposed to the religious views of … the Salvation Army ’ . |
| 9 | If you really do not know where you were or what you were doing , begin by imagining the object itself . |
| 10 | If the amendment to Article 93 were accepted , the Company , and hence the general body of shareholders , would have no choice but to bear such additional costs , however great they were or however many requisitions there may be . |
| 11 | ‘ … and the moral of that [ said the Duchess ] is — ‘ Be what you would seem to be ’ — or , if you 'd like it put more simply — ‘ Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise . |
| 12 | In particular , Caparo suggested that the auditors were or should have been aware of the fall in Fidelity 's share price during March and of its need for financial assistance . |
| 13 | I thought that my conduct , dress , attitude were used as a measure of what the other young women of my family were or later would be allowed to do . |
| 14 | Admittedly there is a use of the word ‘ order ’ , as in ‘ the order in which the things are arranged ’ , but an order in the sense of something to be obeyed is not the expression of a belief that things are — or were or will be — in a certain sort of arrangement . |
| 15 | Most , through divorce , widowhood , sickness or marriage to a low-paid man , were or had been , main family earners . |
| 16 | Two more doors now opened , and others emerged from their trailers , but Estabrook had no chance to either see who they were or whether they were armed because Chant again said : |
| 17 | Once , I could n't remember how many breaks for rain there were or in which session I scored my hundred . |
| 18 | Beguiled by state-of-the-art techniques ( of the kind deployed for ‘ Cités-Cinés ’ , which captured the public imagination five years ago ) , architects and stage designers , experts from the worlds of cinema and advertising , as well as art historians , will create a series of typical settings , which were or could have been subjects for Impressionist paintings . |
| 19 | But the recital , the disc , the voice , the whole art , were or are of large composition : ‘ hers is perhaps the richest , fullest , most beautiful big soprano voice around ’ . |
| 20 | Tina had no moral sense about this question , no feeling that children ought to know who their fathers were or should be fathered by the men their mothers lived with or were married to . |
| 21 | And as the numbers of people marrying did not significantly decline ( between 1871 and 1947 , of those who lived to 45/54 , 85–88 per cent were or had been married ) , this means that less babies were born per family . |
| 22 | Under the old DHSS cohabitation ruling , beleaguered by years of criticism from welfare workers and the women 's movement , women who had male friends , family or lovers around ran the risk of losing their benefit on the grounds that these men were or should be maintaining them . |
| 23 | ( Common sense reminds us that given the distribution of women in employment in Edinburgh , most of the mothers probably were or had been employed in some form of domestic service or in the clothing industry ; but in what proportions ? ) |
| 24 | Woolf did not use the word ‘ legitimacy ’ , but it is clearly the prison 's lack of legitimacy with inmates which he saw as of central importance : ‘ It is not possible for the Inquiry to form any judg-ment on whether the specific grievances of these prisoners were or were not well-founded . |
| 25 | He therefore directed that if J. were to suffer a life-threatening event while in the health authority 's care and the required drugs and equipment were or could reasonably be made available , the health authority should cause such measures ( including artificial ventilation ) to be applied so long as they were capable of prolonging his life . |
| 26 | By his order dated 12 May 1992 Waite J. directed that in the interim pending a further hearing in the events that ( 1 ) J. 's medical condition changed so that his life was threatened but was capable of being prolonged by intensive therapeutic measures including artificial ventilation , and ( 2 ) he was at that time in the health authority 's care and ( 3 ) the required drugs and equipment were or could reasonably be made available , the health authority were to cause such measures , including artificial ventilation , to be applied to J. for so long as they were capable of prolonging his life . |
| 27 | There is in my judgment no objection to the decisions attacked in this case on the ground that they were or may have been taken by junior ministers rather than by the Secretary of State . |
| 28 | Eighty five of you said yes your parents did a good a job , now , I do n't know who your parents were or what you mean by your parents or indeed how many you have , so let's ask , simply an informational question , were you brought up by a mother and a father ? |
| 29 | Whether gossip , bickering and family feuds were or were not a more prevalent feature than a wholesome communion of the population could vary from village to village and is ultimately a matter of subjective judgement . |
| 30 | It was perhaps even worse when public servants were or felt constrained to file affidavits which demonstrated a political purpose . |