1

I want to know if these sentences means he is still a teacher or not. Here, is been being used as a past participle?

  1. He has been a teacher.
  2. He has been a plumber.
Nathan Tuggy
  • 9,513
  • 20
  • 40
  • 56
rajiv Dixit
  • 145
  • 1
  • 7
  • We use "has", not "have", for third-person singular words – CowperKettle Jul 03 '16 at 17:46
  • There might be a difference in meaning depending on whether your example sentences are full sentences or whether they are part of larger sentences (like "He has been a teacher for 10 years") – CowperKettle Jul 03 '16 at 18:10
  • @rajivDixit, please look closely at the words "particle" and "participle." They are different words with different meanings. In answer to your first question: we do not have enough information to know whether he is still a teacher or a plumber. The sentences tell us only that he was a teacher and plumber at some previous time. The answer to your second question is Yes: "been" is used here as the past participle of the verb "to be." The verb is in the present perfect form. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Jul 03 '16 at 18:39
  • 1
    The meaning must be inferred from the context in which the sentence appears. See What is the perfect and how do I use it?, especially section 3.2 Pragmatic meaning. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 03 '16 at 20:03

1 Answers1

1

A simple way to look at it is that the precise meaning of been is sometimes fuzzy, it can mean became or started to be.

He has been a teacher.

Without a qualifying time expression, this likely means at one point in the past he was a teacher, but this strongly implies he is not currently. Sometimes this is emphasized by putting "before" at the end of it - "He has been a teacher before."

He has been a teacher for six months.

This means that six months ago he became a teacher, and "becoming a teacher" is not happening currently (i.e. he is not a new teacher anymore), but this implies that he is still teaching.

What if we want to say he was a teacher for six months and isn't currently. This implies he's not teaching now.

He was a teacher for six months.

Or, less preferable:

He has been a teacher for six months before (this is awkward sounding but will get the idea across).

LawrenceC
  • 36,836
  • 27
  • 81