Passive forms with "be being" and "been being" http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html Could I have some views on passive tenses please? A student today referred me to the above link.

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Michael Business Law

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Passive forms with "be being" and "been being" http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html Could I have some views on passive tenses please? A student today referred me to the above link. I often recommend englishpage.com but on this issue, I don't think I agree with them. For me, verb phrases like "have been being done" "will have been being done" "going to be being" look awful and I would never use them. I was taught on my CELTA course that they are not acceptable. The only exception to this for me could be "will be being + pp" which signals a different meaning to "will be + pp". I am not aware of any established usage differences in different countries on this issue, but again, feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

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I looked into this a couple of years ago, and the only legitimate reason for using a construction like "been being" is when "being" works as a gerund. (eg. "His main problem has been being on time.") I'll say that even though the forms you talk about are t-e-c-h-n-i-c-a-l-l-y correct, they just sound plain silly. As native speakers, we opt for what's clear. :)

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I am in agreement with you Michael, but given we come from the same country perhaps that is not a surprise. I can't even of a situation where you might want to use those example constructions that you gave, they look horrendous written down and sound even worse out loud.

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My favourite one from that page is this: "The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished." Doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, does it?

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Hello Michael, The passive tense, in general, is not recommended to be used in essays. According to certain scholars it makes the paper sound weak. In the U.S. no one tends to construct sentences like that, although it can be grammatically correct. Aida

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I've emailed englishpage.com about it. It seems a professional website. Given the unanimity on this page about the issue, I'm surprised at the information they have published.

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