In the following context, should I use have been done or have been being done? I want to write on the placard of a pathology centre.
Here's the sentence:
- All kinds of investigations have been done/have been being done here for 25 years.
I know It is grammatical to write as "all kinds of investigations are done here." But it does not imply how long the pathology centre has been doing this, which seems to be a reputation and that the centre is full of experienced pathologists. Please explain, in the above which one I should use.
Best Answer
Usually, you need Present Perfect Continuous for expressing the sense of an action, continuing up the present moment. However, in passive voice ('have been being done') its usage is avoided. Different authors warn about it, despite technically it's not ungrammatical.
BBC calls it clumsy:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv119.shtml
A more tolerant warning ('Present Perfect Continuous is less commonly used in its passive form.') can be found here:
https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfectcontinuous.html
(It accompanies an example: Recently, the work has been being done by John.)
So how to improve the style from 'have been being done'? You can't just replace Present Perfect Continuous with Present Perfect, which is for a completed action,
since that would change the sense dramatically: 'investigations were completed 25 years ago'. Here are possible options: