Please anyone tell me when we have to use "has been, have been , had been" and something started in past and still continuing is it possible to use has been ?
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1Welcome to English Language & Usage. Your question seems to be too broad. If you are a speaker of other languages learning English, I'd like to advise you to visit our sister site English Language Learners, but please make sure you take the tour and visit their Help Center before posting any question. Please don't post the same question on English Language Learners.– user140086Commented May 1, 2016 at 14:33
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1You forgot having been.– John LawlerCommented May 1, 2016 at 16:19
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Since the only answer on this site is wrong/limited, we should delete it. Nor anywhere on the page.– Evan CarrollCommented Jul 27, 2022 at 20:16
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1 Answer
"Has been" and "have been" are both in the present perfect tense. "Has been" is used in the third-person singular and "have been" is used for first- and second-person singular and all plural uses. The present perfect tense refers to an action that began at some time in the past and is still in progress. For example, if I started studying art when I was 13 years old and I am still studying art, I would say "I have been studying art since I was 13 years old."
"Had been" is the past perfect tense and is used in all cases, singular and plural. The past perfect tense refers to something that began in the past and was still true at another time that also was in the past. So, if I began studying art when I was 13, and I got married when I was 21, and now I am 55, I could say "When I got married, I had been studying art for 8 years." The "when I got married" part identifies a specific time in the past, and the "had been studying for 8 years" says that the studying was still going on at another time that is also in the past. Note that it does not matter, in this case, whether I am still studying art in the present - the sentence is correct either way.
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1re "still in progress"; Apparently that's not a requirement. learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/…: "I’m tired out. I’ve been working all day". dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/past/…: "It had been raining and the ground was still wet"– PacerierCommented Oct 31, 2018 at 8:07
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also english.stackexchange.com/questions/79096/… and quora.com/… and quora.com//…– PacerierCommented Oct 31, 2018 at 8:52
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this has bothered me for years as a non-native speaker, thank you for the answer. It very helpful and easy to understand.– CharlesCCommented Dec 5, 2020 at 21:02