Example sentences of "[verb] [be] able " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | It 's a shame you were n't helping out at Christmas , you 'd 've been able |
| 2 | From the letters we have been receiving this year it appears that the Jehovah 's Witness from Greece Andreas Christodoulou has been passing some of the cards on to his colleagues who are also imprisoned Jehovah 's witnesses , who want to correspond with people in the U.K. Fortunately we have someone in the office who has been able to translate their letters . |
| 3 | Who but Gibbons has been able to reproduce in wood the precise bloom of a ripening peach , the very texture and mass of a bursting apricot , or the exact weight and trajectory of an ear of corn on its stem ? |
| 4 | It has been able to shed its loss-making operations without the need for lengthy legal procedures such as those which normally accompany the proposal to close a branch passenger service . |
| 5 | But one Moscow designer , at least , has been able to look at the familiar with a fresh eye and use the symbols of Soviet power with wit and imagination . |
| 6 | Although the affair stinks of a set-up , the government has been able to manipulate the publicity to deflect some of the heat from the Bofors affair . |
| 7 | INTERNATIONAL terrorism has been able to exploit the natural competitiveness and secretiveness of Europe 's counter-intelligence organisations . |
| 8 | In the past this plant would only have been found on the better drained slopes leading to our moorland plateaux , but because of man 's interference in this environment , by digging drainage ditches and lowering the water table , the plant has been able to spread onto the plateaux themselves . |
| 9 | I refer to Julia Kristeva 's somewhat obscure remarks about ‘ the role that the pervert , with his invincible belief in the maternal phallus and his obstinate refusal to recognise the existence of the other sex , has been able to play in anti-semitism and the totalitarian movements that embrace it , . |
| 10 | As a consequence , government has been able to expand the sphere of its operations at the expense of the peasant farmers whose primary produce formed the bulk of exports . |
| 11 | This is because government has never lost sight of the primacy of production , and has been able to avoid excessive borrowing to pay for it — in Cameroun because of the availability of oil , and in Kenya as a result of the low-key transfer of assets into African hands without any disruption in production . |
| 12 | Using its patented Low Pressure Casting technique , Cosworth has been able to incorporate a high degree of stiffness in the compact unit . |
| 13 | Lotus , being in the Anglia region , has found a new sponsor and has been able , at last , to bring out its long-awaited cheap saloon — the Flan . |
| 14 | As a result of this the club has been able to run at a constant level of activity . |
| 15 | Even in the ‘ settled ’ areas , where the US and the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control ( UNFDAC ) have been active , efforts to eradicate opium by crop substitution have run into trouble for one simple reason : in 30 years , no one has been able to come up with a product as lucrative and easy to market as opium . |
| 16 | Whereas Bob Dwyer , the Australian coach , was the man being criticised and under pressure before the Strasbourg match for lack of success and for Randwick club favouritism , he has been able to announce an unchanged team . |
| 17 | Their speciality was tunes like In Sans Souci — to remind Twenties Berliners of that nice Sunday afternoon tram ride they could take out to Frederick the Great 's summer palace at Potsdam — a trip no West Berliner has been able to take for half a century . |
| 18 | It is the first time the industry has been able to purchase cover for long-term environmental damage although it does buy insurance against sudden pollution incidents or claims from disasters such as explosions . |
| 19 | Satellite TV has been able to offer dedicated viewing which the existing channels can not : 24-hour news from Sky News , for example , two sports channels , and now comprehensive coverage of the House of Commons . |
| 20 | It is possible to run all lifts on machine-made snow and this means that Killington has been able to open for skiing from October to June every season since 1982 . |
| 21 | STUNNED by the loyalty General Noriega has been able to inspire among his troops and fearful for the fate of US hostages , the Bush Administration is under growing pressure to reach a deal with the former dictator of Panama . |
| 22 | It seems that the dolphin has been able to eliminate frictional drag and turbulence when it swims , a feat never achieved by any human-made vessel . |
| 23 | In the right circumstances , Mr Solarz has been able to give a nudge or two to history . |
| 24 | But every time he has used force in the past — as in Azerbaijan a year ago — he has been able to portray himself as defender of both law and order . |
| 25 | But it could be argued that the policy of spending on bases rather than on troops has paid off since Saudi Arabia has been able to accommodate , with astonishing ease , a multinational army 20 times the size of its own . |
| 26 | One reason the central bank has been able to keep money tight is that the victims of bankruptcy have so far been mainly property- or finance-related companies with few employees . |
| 27 | It is a paradox too , that because Christianity has been able to drop any mention of the physical cycles of women 's lives , secular culture has ended up with an idea that true liberation means we can forget ‘ those difficult days ’ , and ‘ carry on as normal ’ ; assuming , perhaps , that to be normal is to be more like a man . |
| 28 | If they go away with a positive decision against starting up a tourism enterprise , Sue feels she has been able to help them avoid an expensive mistake . |
| 29 | As Robinson put it : ‘ even with a less persuasive argument he has been able to get a democratic decision in his favour but the democratic process is used throughout the party ’ . |
| 30 | As the Party has grown it has been able to achieve representation in local government to the point of having controlling power on some councils , it has had a major voice in the first Assembly , the Convention , and the second Assembly , and it has elected representatives at Westminster and the European Parliament . |