Although the difference among the men was great, altogether there was a very great force on both sides.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

But the profits of the merchant at home, and of our factories abroad, are not taken into the ac Page 344 count; which profit on such an immense quantity of goods exported and re-exported cannot fail of being very great: five per cent, upon the whole, I should think, a very moderate allowance.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

These were not, unluckily, very great, for I was a bad speaker, and the House would not listen to me, and presently, in 1780, after the Gordon disturbance, was dissolved, when a general election took place.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

“I’faith, colonel,” said D’Artagnan, “we are very grateful for your gracious invitation; for without you we ran the risk of going without dinner, as we have without breakfast.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

We have watched over her; nursed her flickering existence; now she has fallen at once from youth to decrepitude, from health to immedicinable disease; even as we spend ourselves in struggles for her recovery, she dies; to all nations the voice goes forth, Hope is dead!
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

From these facts; from the great difficulty of ascertaining the infertility of varieties in a state of nature, for a supposed variety if infertile in any degree would generally be ranked as species; from man selecting only external characters in the production of the most distinct domestic varieties, and from not wishing or being able to produce recondite and functional differences in the reproductive system; from these several considerations and facts, I do not think that the very general fertility of varieties can be proved to be of universal occurrence, or to form a fundamental distinction between varieties and species.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

Old and New Methods Employed in Loading Heavy Cargo on the Santa Cecilia Coffee from Cucuta is stored in the Venezuelan custom-house, from which it must be shipped for export within forty-five days, or the shipper runs the risk of having it declared by the Venezuelan government for consumo (home consumption) at a prohibitory tariff.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

They were no longer very good friends, she perceived; and when she reminded Tom that he ought always to love Philip for being so good to him when his foot was bad, he answered: "Well, it isn't my fault; I don't do anything to him."
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Excuse me, but perhaps I have offended you by calling you young man, but I had nothing ... in short, if you are willing to do me a very great service, here it is: a lady—that is, I mean a gentlewoman of a very good family, of my acquaintance ...
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“You would be very glad for your sister not to have to go abroad again, would you not?” “ Very ,” said Philippa, heartily.
— from Philippa by Mrs. Molesworth

CHAPTER X. "That Lord L'Estrange seems a very good fellow."
— from The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 by Various

I am very good friends with all cats.
— from The Story Girl by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

FLIES AND TYPHOID It has been abundantly demonstrated that the excrement or the urine of a typhoid patient may contain virulent germs for some time before he is aware that he has the disease, and it
— from Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases by Rennie Wilbur Doane

It was a great favor, a very great favor.
— from The Art of Disappearing by John Talbot Smith

I zink vat is var gorresbondence for a kind of business?
— from Brown of Moukden: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War by Herbert Strang

The road, though rough and narrow for wheels, was very good for a foot-path, and the travellers went on for several miles without difficulty, and with good courage.
— from Forests of Maine Marco Paul's Adventures in Pursuit of Knowledge by Jacob Abbott

Pour off the clear water, that swimmeth over the starch or flomery, that is in the bottom (which is very good for Pap, &c.) and boil it up to a gelly, as you do Harts-horn gelly or the like, and season it to your taste.
— from The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Kenelm Digby

Now your Majesty being my mistress, if you will do me the honour, that, after the custom of England, I may wait on you on May-day, and have a little treatment for you after the manner of England; this I call going into England, and shall take it as a very great favour from your Majesty.
— from A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. by Bulstrode Whitlocke