Today however, the river is highly polluted, becoming merely an open sewage canal.

Do we have to settle for merely becoming yet another mainstream movement?

I explained that, instead of "it's getting light," his eyes were merely becoming accustomed to the darkness.

She was merely becoming accustomed to the fact that the pathways in her life were, finally, marked out, established.

As a consequence, the obvious merely becomes more so.

However, he decides to end their relationship, becoming merely "friends".

Some also point out that merely becoming bigger will not necessarily yield better intelligence.

The society figures, with their gala balls, seem to have become merely supporting players.

With that guy, though, instead of merely becoming smarten, he had seen God.

That was their affair, however, and Jiro continued on, merely becoming more alert than before.