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I have found sentences in some contexts which surprisingly use "is" and "been" together:

  • He is been watching too much television lately.
  • She is been feeling a little depressed.
  • The compiler is been failed to compile the code.

Why are these not:

  • He has been watching too much television lately.
  • She has been feeling a little depressed.
  • The compiler has failed to compile the code.

A similar use is found in the first sentence of this answer on StackOverflow. That was my question about Java Server Pages (JSP). Do the first group of sentences add some extra meaning, or they are just used in a fashionable manner, or something else involved?

Finally, I once saw this:

  • The work is been being done by someone else.

I was taken aback by this sentence. I found it totally dramatic—it appears to be in the "present perfect continuous tense", which shouldn't have passive construction according to any grammar rules I know.

When are such constructions used? I'm a resident of India and don't really understand them.

Community
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Tiny
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    The examples you give are all wrong. I suspect that your "context" is a site or a contributor whose English is not, at least with respect to periphrastic verb constructions, as good as yours. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 21 '12 at 00:41
  • On review, I see I may not have made clear that it is the examples you cite which are wrong, not your own revised versions. You are perfectly right. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 21 '12 at 01:33
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    Obviously, it is an expansion of *'s been* that was has been, by an overenthusiastic writer, into is been. Left to itself *'s been* would have been fine. – Kris Oct 21 '12 at 04:14

4 Answers4

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I wouldn't be too surprised if the first two are examples of the same sort of "misheard->misspelled" transitions that result in a lot of younger people thinking that "should of been" is a valid construction; I could totally see how someone could go from hearing "he has been" and "he's been" to thinking that "he is been" is what was actually said.

However, all three of your initial examples are bad grammar and should be avoided; your suggested versions are correct.

Hellion
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    Small but important addendum: while "is been" is not grammatical in contemporary Standard English, it once used to be grammatical (and still is in closely related languages such as German). See elsewhere on this site for details. Some dialects might still preserve it; I don't know. – RegDwigнt Oct 21 '12 at 12:30
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'Is been' is used in a dialect of English-cockney, spoken in the suburbs of London, East London. So, I think, 'She is been watching too much 'telly' lately' is used there.

Incidentally, 'is been' is the passive of the auxiliary 'to be'. So, in "She is watching too much television lately", the grammatically correct form of the verb in the passive is the above: 'She is been watching too much telly lately'; which, of course, does not require an interchange of subject and object, but, since the 'voice' in 'Active and Passive voice' refers mostly to the verb, this could be allowed? Anyway, we are all 'passive' mostly in front of a TV so the above sentence becomes correct even more so-it uses less 'redundancy' as there is no exchange of subject and object. So, dialects are not only grammatically correct but are also precise-here, less 'redundancy', etc? Dialects 'probably' use the grammatically correct structures and are more precise, which modify with time- and so protests are made by 'mavens' often?

Please read these other examples and comment: In the sentence: I am to write a report-is the passive-A report is been to be written by me? And, in 'He is to write a report'; and, 'They are to write reports', are the passive forms: A report is been to be written by him; and, Reports are been to be written by them? Please try to classify: 'Is been', 'Are been'- are they 'dialectical' or 'wrong'? Why?So..since this post was made 2 years ago, if this 'is seen' by anyone, please reply. Thanks.

S.S.Sundaresh
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Is been is definitely not correct. As Hellion says, it could be a mis-hearing of 'he's been', but even then it shows a suprising lack of basic grammar.

Another possibility is that it is a mis-hearing of 'being'. It may be a local thing, but in my local Indian community (Singapore) I have heard "being [verb]ing", as though they are trying to describe a state of being in action. My hunch is that it is an import from their mother tongue, but that is only a hunch - I have no research to support it.

Noah
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Roaring Fish
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  • In Italian the auxiliary verb be as well as have are used to construct the present perfect tenses. It could also be a literal translation, an L1 interference where L1 stands for mother tongue. – Mari-Lou A Feb 09 '15 at 11:27
  • "being [verb]ing"?? Like "He is being running"? Never heard it in Singapore. – Pacerier Jul 29 '17 at 10:03
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No, it is not correct.

But I stand corrected on my answer, so here it is corrected. Thank you @carlo_R.

'Is' is present tense. 'Been' is a past participle. Therefore 'has been' is the correct present perfect continuous tense. http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_present-perfect-continuous.htm

But when I hear 'has been' I picture immediately something that has occurred in the past. 'Will have been' is something that would have occurred in the future but it has been 'conceptualized' that now we are looking at it from a further future so that it is now in the past. :) It is why the term 'has-been' is used (derogatorily) for people who used to be good at something, now aren't, but can't let go of the past.

Bill Rosmus
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  • I have never heard that "been" is past tense; could you please explain/expand this news? –  Oct 21 '12 at 02:31
  • @Carlo_R.I just edited my answer. Please read it. – Bill Rosmus Oct 21 '12 at 02:49
  • For those who marked this down, please follow the link. You are wrong. – Bill Rosmus Oct 21 '12 at 03:08
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    Would have occured in the future? The future is now in the past? -1 for being utterly confused and confusing. "Will have been" is a prediction of something that will occur, and though the aspect is from a further future, it is still the future. In no way is it now in the past. Also, present perfect is not a past tense, it is pre-present (which is why it is called present perfect...). The difference is that in present perfect the anchor point is the time of speaking. The event may be in the past, but it must have a connection to the present. – Roaring Fish Oct 21 '12 at 04:07
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    @RoaringFish "'conceptualized' that now we are looking at it from a further future". Sorry if you don't understand that. Try some IQ pills. Occasionally people don't understand things because they don't want to. And it is still something that happened in the past even if it has a connection to the present. Dogmatism doesn't suit anyone. – Bill Rosmus Oct 21 '12 at 04:18
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    @BillR ~ You are completely misunderstanding present perfect. As it has a connection with the present, it is not, in fact, 'in the past' because it is unfinished business. That is the whole point of present perfect, and that is why it is called present perfect. For situations that are complete and hence 'in the past' we have past simple. They are two different aspects with two different functions. As you don't understand that, I suggest you get your basic grammar sorted out before you start making comments about other peoples understanding. – Roaring Fish Oct 21 '12 at 04:47
  • @RoaringFish So if someone says, "it's been a slice." Do you think in your mind that whatever they are talking about is ongoing, or finished business. I personally take it as finished business and therefore the past. Granted if someone says something like, "it's been going on for years," it can be taken as unfinished business. One phrase is definitely past tense, the other not. Resolve that. It is not always unfinished business. Even if it refers to something that just ended now it still can refer to purely past tense. And it often... often is used that way. – Bill Rosmus Oct 22 '12 at 00:50
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    @BillR ~ past tense is worked, played, bought etc. Has been is not past tense. This can be confirmed by reference to a school grammar book. Whether a perfective is finished or not is easy to resolve - it is marked by the the verb being telic or atelic, not by the aspect. Note how this is entirely different to past simple which is, by definition, complete. If you are going to post answers, please make sure you learn your grammar first. Giving inaccurate, ill informed, amateur answers is not good for the sites reputation. – Roaring Fish Oct 22 '12 at 01:32
  • And you should stop being so dogmatic. Language is alive. It isn't something dead in a grammar book. And no it isn't easy to resolve. If someone says it's been a slice, it over, done, none existent any more. If you can't figure that out, you shouldn't even speak. Answer if this is past or present tense: Hey guy, it has been a most unpleasant conversation with an exceedingly inflexible and dogmatic person. Hint: the conversation is over, it is past. Not much of a hint and more a supplied answer, but it seems you need it since you can't figure things out without a book. Wow. – Bill Rosmus Oct 22 '12 at 01:43