i am feeling difficulty with the following sentences:-
1>He has been married three times.
2>For how long you have been married?
why ‘been’ is used in the above sentences.Can we write as “He has married three times” and “for how long you have married?”
it is easier to think of married as an adjective in these cases
It has been sunny 3 days this week
For how long has it been sunny?
It is even easier and I think more efficient to spend your mental energy remembering the meaning of these phrases as whole phrases without wondering how they are put together
thanks for reply and your valuable suggestion.
I want to know about the grammer behind these sentences as it will be useful to understand the sentence structure in future reading and speaking.
Memorise the structure, and the next time you see it, the structure will contain content words that you don’t understand:
“The vernal equinox has been luminescent thrice this aeon”
In which case you would have been much better off just learning more words. The grammar patterns will sink in through unconscious exposure.
Successful language learning is more like dancing than an intellectual exercise.
Just an opinion, but it is shared by most of the successful language learners I know of.
Think of the word ‘marry’ like the word ‘sad’ the infinitive is
“to be sad” and “to be married”
In these cases married IS NOT a verb in itself. It’s an adjective. So if we think of the verb as “to be married” be is the verb and married is the adjective and then when want to talk about the state of marriage IN THE PAST without talking about about the specific time we use the PRESENT PERFECT ‘have + past participle’. The verb in your sentence is ‘be’ the pp of be is been.
I have been married three times.
If you wanted to state the time and it also means the action is finished you say:
I was married three times last decade.
If you must add the time to a present perfect sentence use ‘for’ or ‘since’. By the way it means the action started in the past and continues to the present where above the action is finished:
I’ve been drunk for 5 hours. (for is used for a period of time. for hours for years for months)
We’ve been happy together since 1985. (since is used from a starting point. since January. since last week)
In the question “For how long have you been married?” You already see the word ‘for’ I’m asking about.
I’ve been married for two years.
I should also say that I agree with dooo here. Now that you’ve had it explained don’t worry about it too much, since you won’t remember such specific grammar and continue to listen.
English especially is a listen and speak language.
I have married twice = I have been through two wedding ceremonies.
I have been married twice, (once for a year and once for ten years) = I have been in the “married” state for two periods in my life
also I am divorced, I am separated, I am depressed, I am employed: all verbs being used as adjectives to describe the state that you are in.
thanks to all of you.It’s crystal clear now.
Its been a pleasure Khushi 