🏁 Use been after to have, and being after to be, for example:
We had been there often.
They have been to London recently.
They are being cautious about buying a new house.
I am being kind today.
📲 💻You can use this link to a Google Form so you can test yourself.
🔆 Get it already? Go to Skill 35.
🛠 Need more? Read on.
Both these words are only used after different verbs, so you just need to learn which pairs go together and you’ll always get them right. For been, this is really easy, because you only ever use it after the verb ‘to have’ (had or have) to talk about something in the past, e.g.
We had been there often, or They have been to London recently.
Being is only used as part of a verb after to be, either in the present e.g.
They are being silly today.
I am being bad tempered today.
Or in the past, e.g.
He was being too slow getting to the half way line.
They were being careful on this one.
So the quickest way to remember is:
After has/have or had → been
After is/are or was/were → being
🚦 Time for more?
You can also use being as a noun, like in human beings, which is sometimes misspelt as human beens!
Although this one is trickier, if you learn the tips above you’ll get it right. The same rules apply to the homophones seen/seeing, so if you know this one, you can do that one too!
🎯 💻 Want to try another exercise?
https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/confusing-words-being-and-been