HAVE BEEN / HAS BEEN / HAD BEEN - How to Use These Forms Correctly (with Examples) - English Grammar

‘Have been’, ‘has been’ and ‘had been’.

These forms cause a lot of confusion for many people.

Well, in this video, I will clear up that confusion.

I’m going to teach you the three main uses of these forms how to use them correctly without

making mistakes.

As always, there is a quiz at the end of the video to test your understanding.

Alright, let’s get started.

Before we talk about the uses, you need to know the basics of where to use have, has

and had been: in the present, if the subject of a sentence is I/You/We/They or a plural

noun, then we use ‘have been’.

If the subject is He/She/It or a singular noun, then we use ‘has been’.

This is when we talk about the present.

When we talk only about the past, it’s very easy.

For any subject, we use ‘had been’.

OK, let me test you: what do we use with He/She/It or a singular noun in the present?

We use ‘has been’.

What about with I/You/We/They or plural nouns?

We use ‘have been’.

And in the past tense?

We use ‘had been’ for all subjects.

Good, so let’s now look at the first use of these forms.

This is in the present perfect tense.

That is, to talk about actions or situations that started in the past and are still continuing.

Here’s an example: “I have been working as a teacher for 7 years.”

In speech, we usually shorten ‘I have’ to ‘I’ve’ – “I’ve been working

as a teacher for 7 years.”

Let’s look at a timeline for this.

You know that I started working as a teacher seven years ago (or in 2010 because at the

time of filming this video, right now, it’s 2017), and I’m still a teacher, so this

action – ‘working’ is continuing.

In this sentence, we can also say: “I have been working as a teacher since 2010.”

The difference between ‘for’ and ‘since’ is that if you want to mention the duration

(or amount of time), then you use ‘for’ (like ‘for 7 years’).

If you want to mention the starting point of the action or situation, use ‘since’

(as in ‘since 2010’).

Here’s another example: let’s say that this lady wants to see the doctor.

Her appointment was at 3 o’clock.

She came to the hospital at 3, but the doctor wasn’t there.

So she started waiting at 3 o’clock and she’s still waiting – let’s say it’s

5 o’clock now, so two hours have passed.

So what can we say?

We can say: “She has been waiting for two hours.”

or “She has been waiting since 3 o’clock.”

In natural speech, we say he‘s been and she’s been: “She’s been waiting”.

OK have a look at this sentence: “He has been the CEO of the company for four months”

or we can say ‘since June’ because that’s when he started.

Here, we don’t have an –ing verb like ‘working’ or ‘waiting’.

That’s because we don’t want to focus on any action, we just want to express the

situation – that he became the CEO in June and he’s still the CEO.

Here’s another example: “They’ve been married for 25 years / since 1992.”

When did they get married?

In 1992.

Are they still married now?

Yes.

So, they’ve been married for 25 years now.

OK, so what about ‘had been’?

Well, let’s change our sentences a little bit: “I had been working as a teacher for

7 years when I quit my job.”

Ah, we see a different meaning here.

It means that I started working as a teacher at some point in the past, I was a teacher

for 7 years, but then I quit.

So now, I am no longer a teacher.

I want you to notice that there are two past actions here: one continuous action (“I

had been working as a teacher”) and a single finished action at the end of that (“I quit”).

Compare this to the previous sentence – “I have been working as a teacher” – here,

there is only one continuous action and it’s still continuing, it’s not finished.

So, please remember this rule: only use ‘had been’ if there were two events in the past:

a continuing action or a situation and a single, finished action.

So let’s go back to the other sentences.

With these, we can say: “She had been waiting for two hours when the doctor finally arrived.”

“He’d been the CEO of the company for only four months when it went bankrupt.”

‘Went bankrupt’ means the company lost all its money and closed down.

“They had been married for 25 years when they divorced.”

So are they still married?

Unfortunately, no.

Just like the sentences with ‘have been’ and ‘has been’ are in the present perfect

tense, the sentences with ‘had been’ are in the past perfect tense.

Now, if you need, stop the video, and make sure you understand the difference between

‘have been’, ‘has been’ and ‘had been’, and then play the video and continue.

OK, let’s now move on to the second use of these forms.

This is in the passive voice to talk about recent actions.

Now, I recently needed to buy some computer parts.

So I went to Amazon.com and I bought a mouse and a keyboard.

After I received the items, I got an email from Amazon.

It had this line: “Your items have been delivered.”

What does that mean?

Well, it means the same thing as: “We have delivered your items” (‘We’ means Amazon).

This sentence is called an active voice sentence and, here, the focus is on ‘We’.

But Amazon wants to focus on the items because that’s what’s important in this situation.

So, instead, they use d the passive voice: “Your items have been delivered.”

This means that the items were delivered just now – maybe a few minutes or hours ago.

Now, when I receive the items, I can say: “The items have been received.”

It means “I have received the items.”

Here’s one last example: there’s a construction company in my city.

The build buildings.

They started a big construction project in my neighborhood a few months ago.

And now: The company has completed the big construction project.

The problem with this active voice sentence is that it focuses too much on the company.

We want to focus on the project.

So how can we change this to the passive voice?

Can you do it?

Well, we can say: “The big construction project has been completed.”

Very simple.

OK, but how do we use ‘had been’ in the passive?

Again, we only use it if there were two actions or events in the past.

Remember the mouse that I bought online?

Unfortunately, two days after I got it, it stopped working.

Such a shame.

So now I can say: “When the mouse stopped working, it had been purchased just two days

ago.”

Notice that we indicate the first event with ‘had been’ (‘it had been purchased just

two days ago’) and the second event with just the simple past tense – ‘the mouse

stopped working’.

With ‘had been’ you can mention the time – ‘two days ago’.

For the second sentence, we can say: “The construction project had just been completed

when the company started another one.”

Alright, this is the second use of have been, has been and had been.

So, let’s turn to the third and final use.

Thankfully, this is the easiest, and it is to talk about the experience of visiting places.

For example: “We’ve been to Hawaii four times.”

This just means that we (maybe I’m talking about my family) – we have visited Hawaii

a total of four times in our lives.

This sentence is not about continuing actions or passive voice or anything difficult.

It just tells you about our life experience.

Here, it’s very important to note that we don’t mention a specific time.

You cannot say “We’ve been to Hawaii last year.”

That’s a common mistake.

If you want to say the specific time, you just say “We went to Hawaii” or “We

visited Hawaii last year.”

When you say ‘have been’ or ‘has been’ don’t mention the time – because you are

talking about life experience.

We also use this form in questions: “Have you ever been to Japan?

Yes, I’ve been there twice.”

It’s also common to use this form in the negative: “He has never been to Italy.”

It means he has never visited Italy.

Alright, how about ‘had been’ in this context?

What is the rule with ‘had been’ – do you remember?

Only use it if there are two actions or events in the past.

So here’s an example: “When she traveled to the US in 2015, she had never been abroad

before.”

So it means: she went to the US in 2015, but that was her first visit.

Before that point, she had never travelled outside her own country.

Now, ‘had been’ might still be a little confusing for you, but with a little bit of

practice it will become very easy and natural.

Alright, if you’re ready, it’s now time for the quiz.

There are ten sentences on the screen.

I’d like you to fill in the gaps with ‘have been’, ‘has been’ or ‘had been’.

Stop the video, think about your answers, then play the video again and check.

Alright, here are the answers.

How many did you get right?

Let me know in the comments section below.

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