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Is it acceptable to use "has been being" in a sentence?

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Question added by Samar Saleh , Community Manager , Bayt.com
Date Posted: 2015/06/14
Ali Raza Shah
by Ali Raza Shah , Home Tutor , Nil

i think this is incorrect

because been being is not commonly use

 

Mark Garrow
by Mark Garrow , WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT COORDINATOR , Ama Indian Education and Development, Inc

 

No. "Has been being" would make no logical sense given the meaning of the present perfect tense which in se implies a temporary state that one day may or may not come to an end.

 

 

 

Compare:

 

 

 

"Mary has been pregnant for six months" makes sense:

 

"Mary has been being pregnant" is an illogical statement which makes

 

no sense since one either is or is not pregnant.

 

 

 

Compare:

 

 

 

"Tom is being funny," a temporary state (an idiomatic use of the present progressive

tense); and "Tom is funny," a personal characteristic (present tense).

 

 

 

"Jack is Ted's biological father," is a statement that makes sense since

 

fatherhood is, in se, a personal characteristic.

 

"Jack is being Ted's biological father," is a statement that makes no sense

 

since fatherhood is a personal characteristic. Even killing one's child

 

would not change this fact.

 

 

 

The idiomatic meaning of tenses has to be respected. The present tense is

 

used to express a general truth; the present perfect tense is not. The present

 

progressive tense may be used to describe a passing state of affairs: "Larry has

been working too hard;" "I have not been drinking enough water."

 

Ahmed Fathy Zaki Ali
by Ahmed Fathy Zaki Ali , Technical support , Vodafone UK

It doesn't sound like a proper English. Please, advise what would you like to say and we will help.

Michael Homewood
by Michael Homewood , Teacher , Native English Teacher

This is not correct!

Has been is used when somebody has been doing something.

Being is a word that has to be used very carefully, for example, I can not use my car today as it is being serviced.

Being relates to something that happening at the moment!

 

 

Pushpa Raghavan
by Pushpa Raghavan , Trainer, IELTS, PTE, Employability and communication skills training , Credo Visas (A division of Credo Careers Pvt. Ltd)

"been being " is non-existent.  If you expect 'being' to do the job of a progressive case, then 'been' can do and does that as in the following case:

He has been here since last week.

Mr. Y has been learning English since2010. (and to simplify: the verb that is associated with 'been' carries 'ing' form to express progression)

As for 'being' as in passive voice case:

English is being taught by Mr. Z. (Mr.Z is teaching English. (Active))

amandeep aman
by amandeep aman , Science master cum school head master , Govt. School under sarva shiksha abhyaan authority

A poet or a writer could use

Engr. Salim Ali Muhammad Aldagether
by Engr. Salim Ali Muhammad Aldagether , General Manager , Dahab Company Ltd. Precious Metals Refinery

Well, let me phrase your question; as far as I understand, you want to know whether the passive voice be used for sentences in the present perfect continuous.

 

As far as I can tell, I understand the present perfect and its passive voice (have/has built, has been built). However, the passive voice of present perfect continuous usually is unclear:

 

One active: They have been building this house for years. Passive: ???

I got a suggestions of “This house has been being built for years,” but it sounds awkward and I don't recall anywhere else where two be verbs follow one another.

 

I think this is the right form to use.

Best wishes, 

Engr. S. Aldagether, 

Nader Haidar
by Nader Haidar , Official IELTS Instructor , IDP IELTS LEBANON

"BEING" can be used with the passive voice for the progressive case and can also be used to describe someone's unusual behavior. I will use the following examples to illustrate:

1. The car is being washed right now. (passive)

2. You are being very active today.

There definitely are other usages for "being".

As for the phrase " has been being", it can be related to the passive voice category; however, the passive voice for the present perfect progressive is non-existent because it doesn't sound sensible.

 

Fateh Guerdi
by Fateh Guerdi , Teacher of English language , Malek Ben Naby Secondary School

Grammatically speaking, it is correct. But, this form is not commonly used.

Khaled Belgacem
by Khaled Belgacem , Teacher of English , Pioneer High School Gafsa

It is ungrammatical simply because verb to be a state verb that is not used in the progressive form.

Francis Panikulam
by Francis Panikulam , Head of the English faculty , ISM International School.

There is no present perfect continuous form (verb structure) for verb: to be. It's always has been or have been.It's wrong to say has been being or have been being.

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