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I came across a sentence which read

The bill bogged down after being passed by Congress

I am a little curious as to this use of being.

Shouldn't it be

The bill bogged down after it got passed by Congress ?

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2
  • There is no problem with the use of "being" in this sentence. This structure ("being" plus a past participle) is used in the passive forms of present and past continuous tenses. (The roof is being repaired, dinner is being cooked, etc.). Your alternative is also acceptable structurally, though "got" is probably not as good a word choice as "was" ("after it was passed by Congress"). (However, a bill is a proposal to be considered by Congress. A bill that has been passed by Congress is no longer a bill, so the content of the sentence is questionable as well.)
    – user66965
    Nov 19, 2015 at 17:38
  • What @surlawda said. The term bogged down is relatively informal, but after it got passed is very definitely a "downmarket" usage, not really suitable for even (semi-)formal contexts.
    – FumbleFingers
    Nov 19, 2015 at 18:05

2 Answers 2

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There is no problem with the use of "being" in this sentence. This structure ("being" plus a past participle) is used in the passive forms of present and past continuous tenses. (The roof is being repaired, dinner is being cooked, etc.). Your alternative is also acceptable structurally, though "got" is probably not as good a word choice as "was" ("after it was passed by Congress"). (However, a bill is a proposal to be considered by Congress. A bill that has been passed by Congress is no longer a bill, so the content of the sentence is questionable as well.)

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0

Being here is used as the past participle form of 'be' and hence it's usage is correct.

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3
  • Look into the usage of 'being'. This might help englishgrammar.org/uses-of-being
    – Aniket Mehta
    Nov 19, 2015 at 17:29
  • Why is the continuous form being used here?
    – rahul
    Nov 19, 2015 at 17:29
  • I think the 'ing' in being has confused you into thinking that being is the continuous form of the verb 'be'. However 'being' is not the continuous form. Consider the following example. 1)London is the capital of England. 2)London is being the capital of England. Obviously the second one is incorrect.
    – Aniket Mehta
    Nov 19, 2015 at 17:35

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