[Grammar] It has been an honor

[Anil Giria]

It has been an Honor and Privilege to play cricket for my country. ( Cricketer said after retirement)

I understand with has been we use "ing" form of verb. Why not in above we used the 'ing" Is to "to be" sentence?

 

[Rover_KE]

You can say either 'It has been an honor and a privilege to play cricket for my country' or 'Playing cricket for my country has been an honor and a privilege'.

 

[Anil Giria]

You can say either 'It has been an honor and a privilege to play cricket for my country' or 'Playing cricket for my country has been an honor and a privilege'.

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My doubt was that with present perfect tense we use ...ing form of verb (like playing). But I understand the above sentence is present perfect and we have not used that rule. Please clarify.

I understand both honor and privilege are noun. Am I correct?

 

[Matthew Wai]

... with present perfect tense we use ...ing form of verb (like playing).

'It is an honor and a privilege to have been playing cricket for my country.'

 

[Anil Giria]

There is no rule about using the -ing form with the present perfect. Where did you get that impression? You can use the -ing form to construct the present perfect continuous, I have been playing cricket for many years, but that is a fifferent matter,

Honor and privilege are indeed nouns.

Agreed, by mistake I have written present perfect. My question was:

'It has been an honor and a privilege to play cricket for my country'.

The above sentence is present perfect continuous (as has been is used) then why not we have used "..ing form of verb"

 

[Matthew Wai]

'(Subject) have been something' is the present perfect.
'(Subject) have been doing something' is the present perfect continuous.

 

[emsr2d2]

You keep saying "It has been a pleasure" is the present perfect continuous. It's not. It's just the present perfect. It's not possible to phrase your specific idea in the present perfect continuous. Perhaps you are confused by the use of the word "playing" after "a pleasure".

"It has been a pleasure playing cricket for my country" is not the same verb usage as "It has been working OK until today".

It is a pleasure ... (simple present)
It was a pleasure ... (simple past)
It has been a pleasure ... (present perfect)
It had been a pleasure ... (past perfect)

Some verbs, of course, can be put into the present perfect continuous.

It is raining. (Present continuous)
It was raining. (Simple past continuous)
It has been raining. (Present perfect continuous)
It had been raining. (Past perfect continuous)

 

[Rover_KE]

'It has been an honor and a privilege to play cricket for my country'.

Why [STRIKE]not we have used[/STRIKE] can't we use the "..ing" form of the verb?

We can if we invert the sentence. See my post #2.

 

[emsr2d2]

True. I should have clarified that it wasn't possible for the specific idea whilst keeping the original word order.

 

[Anil Giria]

You keep saying "It has been a pleasure" is the present perfect continuous. It's not. It's just the present perfect. It's not possible to phrase your specific idea in the present perfect continuous. Perhaps you are confused by the use of the word "playing" after "a pleasure".

"It has been a pleasure playing cricket for my country" is not the same verb usage as "It has been working OK until today".

It is a pleasure ... (simple present)
It was a pleasure ... (simple past)
It has been a pleasure ... (present perfect)
It had been a pleasure ... (past perfect)

Some verbs, of course, can be put into the present perfect continuous.

It is raining. (Present continuous)
It was raining. (Simple past continuous)
It has been raining. (Present perfect continuous)
It had been raining. (Past perfect continuous)

Just to clear my layman doubt: My understanding was that we use "has been, had been, have been, had been" only with Present perfect continuous/past perfect continuous. Keeping this rule in mind I keep on saying that the following sentence is Present perfect continuous. Can you please clarify?

It has been an honor and a privilege to play cricket for my country'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

My understanding was that we use "has been, had been, have been, had been" only with Present perfect continuous/past perfect continuous. Keeping this rule in mind...

My understanding is that we do not have such a rule.

 

[Anil Giria]

My understand was that "been" is used only with Present perfect continuous/past perfect continuous/future perfect continuous.
So whenever I see "been" in any sentence I think it's perfect continuous. Now seeing above post I understand that it's not correct.
Am I right in above understanding?
Is "been" also verb or something else?

 

[emsr2d2]

Is "been" also verb or something else?

"Been" is one form of the verb "to be". It is used in different ways depending on the rest of the sentence. Do you understand the different forms of a verb (particularly the verb "to be")?

To be

Present simple:
I am
You are
He/she/it is
We are
You are
They are

Past simple:
I was
You were
He/she/it was
We were
You were
They were

Present perfect:
I have been
You have been
He/she it has been
We have been
You have been
They have been

Past perfect:
I had been
You had been
He/she/it had been
We had been
You had been
They had been

Those forms can all be used before "-ing" (verb) to create various forms of the continuous.

I am walking. (Present simple + -ing form)
I was walking. (Past simple + -ing form)
I have been walking. (Present perfect + -ing form)
I had been walking. (Past perfect + -ing form)

However, "been" is also used followed by an adjective:

I am tired. (Present simple + adjective)
I was tired. (Past simple + adjective)
I have been tired. (Present perfect + adjective)
I had been tired. (Past perfect + adjective)

Can you see now that "has/have been" is not used ONLY in the continuous?

 

[Anil Giria]

Been, the past HAVE follows the auxiliary verb HAVE in present perfect constructions:

Active: I have been a teacher for many years.
Passive: My father has just been promoted at work.

When the verb following BE in any tense is the -ing form, then we have a continuous/progressive form:

Peter is being rather naughty today. Present continuous, active
My car is being repaired. Present continuous, passive.
John has been working too hard recently. Present perfect, active
He has been being interviewed for over five hours now. Present perfect continuous, passive (uncommon)

John has been working too hard recently. Present perfect, active

Is the above not the present perfect continuous? If not, what would be the present perfect continuous tense of the above sentence?

 

[Matthew Wai]

John has been working too hard recently. Present perfect, active

I consider it to be the present perfect continuous.

 

[Anil Giria]

I have been tired. (Present perfect + adjective). I understand present perfect is constructed by using Has/have and third form of verb. Then why "been" is used in this sentence.

If I write: I have tired.

What is the difference between the above two sentences.

 

[Anil Giria]

In your sentence you have the present perfect (non-continuous) of the verb BE formed with the third form (past participle ​been.

What does "non continuous" means here? Is it "to be" sentence/ have is used as a main verb?

 

[emsr2d2]

"I have tired" is not a grammatical sentence. "I have" is the same as "I own". You can't own an adjective. We use the verb "to be" for that, as follows:

I am happy.
I am sad.
I am tired.
I am angry.
I am frustrated.

For possession:

I have a car.
I have a cat.
I have no children.
I have a large kitchen.

Using "tired" as an example, this is how the tenses go in the first person singular:

I am tired. (Present simple)
I was tired. (Past simple)
I have been tired. (Present perfect)
I had been tired. (Past perfect)
I will be tired. (Future)

 

[Matthew Wai]

What does "non continuous" means here?

'Non-continuous' here means it is not the present perfect continuous.

 

[Anil Giria]

I have been tired. (Present perfect)

Can third form of verb can be used one after another as we have used in above (been and tired)? Any other example without been?