It is raining and it has been raining are two sentences that we hear frequently at a time when rain is around. When many people find both the sentences easily understandable, there is a big difference that lies between the phrases 'is raining' and 'has been raining'. Remember that both these phrases are to be used only when the incident (rain in this case) is currently happening.
Firstly, for people who concentrate a lot on the tenses and their terminologies, 'is raining' denotes present continuous tense and 'has been raining' denotes present perfect continuous tense. Because my blog concentrates on just spoken English, you will not find explanations for these tenses on this blog. However, you will be able to understand the exact difference between 'is raining' and 'has been raining' with the following examples.
2. It has been raining heavily for the past 3 days.
From example 1, it can be seen that you are making someone know that currently, it is raining in your locality. That is why the phrase, 'is raining' has been used in that sentence. When you are mentioning about rain happening for a period of time, the phrase 'has been raining' has to be used like you see in example 2.
The important thing is, both the examples have to be used only when it is currently raining.
To make sure you won't forget the correct usage of the phrases 'is raining' and 'has been raining', remember the following.
Firstly, for people who concentrate a lot on the tenses and their terminologies, 'is raining' denotes present continuous tense and 'has been raining' denotes present perfect continuous tense. Because my blog concentrates on just spoken English, you will not find explanations for these tenses on this blog. However, you will be able to understand the exact difference between 'is raining' and 'has been raining' with the following examples.
Examples of 'is' vs 'has been':
1. It is raining heavily.2. It has been raining heavily for the past 3 days.
From example 1, it can be seen that you are making someone know that currently, it is raining in your locality. That is why the phrase, 'is raining' has been used in that sentence. When you are mentioning about rain happening for a period of time, the phrase 'has been raining' has to be used like you see in example 2.
The important thing is, both the examples have to be used only when it is currently raining.
To make sure you won't forget the correct usage of the phrases 'is raining' and 'has been raining', remember the following.
- When rain is your visitor, use the phrase 'is raining'.
- When the visitor becomes a guest and stays around in your locality, use the phrase 'has been raining'.
Note: From examples 1 and 2, it is clear that 'has been' is used only for an incident that is currently happening and if the incident is mentioned in terms of time. Click here for similar examples using the phrase has/have been in terms of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment