Learn English – Use of “There has been”

sentence-construction

Can I use "There has been" in the way that I have used in the following sentences: I've tried to use it in the sentences below:

  1. There has been a mistake in my Writing.

  2. There has been a serious discussion at my home.

  3. There has been a accident on the way to school.

  4. There has been a dangerous misunderstanding between us.

Am i correct here to use the phrase "There has been" in the sentences above?

Or there is different usage of this phrase ?

Best Answer

All four are grammatically correct, as long as you don't specify when each event happened.

  1. There has been a serious discussion at home.

Is grammatically correct.

Yesterday, there has been a serious discussion at home.

Isn't. Rather, you would write/say:

Yesterday, there was a serious discussion at home.

In all these cases, the present perfect is used to emphasize on the result. For example, take the sentence #3. You could use either the simple past or the present perfect.

There was an accident on the way to school.

Is a casual and descriptive way to say that an accident happened, simply.

There has been an accident on the way to school.

Is used to emphasize on the result of this accident. For example, it could be an excuse for you being late.

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