Twenty-two years earlier, in 1894, and even as late as the spring of 1911, the situation could hardly have seemed less promising.

I came home discouraged: the library stakeout had seemed so promising.

For a brief moment the one-man show had seemed so promising and he had dared to hope.

Mr. Alexander resumed his set speech perfectly, retreating from an unscripted moment that for an instant had seemed human and promising.

Only hours earlier, his future had seemed so promising.

The senator once appeared to be among the most formidable contenders, and many Democrats were flummoxed by how a candidacy that had seemed so promising could fail to catch fire.

The non-lactic soymilk, which at first had seemed so promising, was obtainable all over the country.

Mr. Freed said last week that his pool idea had seemed more promising before he knew about the other plans for the site.

Her thighs felt like lead, and although at first her trip had seemed so promising, she now doubted the wisdom of it.

While he seemed able to gain momentum in his search for truth, his assistants, who had previously seemed so promising, had grown unaccountably bumbling and incompetent.