Sentence examples for been startled by a from inspiring English sources

I'd been startled by a rat crossing my path and disappeared into some roadside shrubbery.

He told the police that he had been startled by a red Mercedes that passed on his right.

A spring warning for puttering-in-the-garden types who have occasionally been startled by a garter snake as they pull the weeds: Soon you may be seeing a cousin of that garter lolling in your flowerbed.

Someone wandering along the banks of the Rio Grande, on the American side, in the summer of 2009 might have been startled by a small cardboard box plummeting to the ground.

While much of the economy is teetering between bust and bailout, the movie industry has been startled by a box-office surge that has little precedent in the modern era.

But Mr. Bartlett might have been startled by a phrase from the Watergate scandal that appeared in the 15th edition, published in 1980: "Expletive deleted," not to mention "E.T., phone home".

I was startled by a sudden tinkling sound.

Fans were startled by a first-inning fire alarm.

But on this night, as her lids grew heavy, she was startled by a sound.

The group is startled by a Macedonian shepherd and his snarling dog.

("It is hard not to be startled by a sixty-word citation to Thornton Wilder").