"she's been..." confused with been

Question

She's been coughing for the last few days.Is there a more causual way to say the same thing? The above sounds too formal. And what does 'been' mean?Thanks!

Skif · Accepted Answer

She has been coughing for the last few days.

I don't suppose it sounds formal as there is no other way to express the same.

been is a part of the to be in the Present Perfect form(have been, has been) as the Present Perfect Continious Tense is used in your sentence

Present Perfect Continious Tense = to be in Present Perfect + Present Participle

Examples of the Present Perfect Continious:

I have been waiting for him for a long time

He has been living in London for five years

Avangi · Answer

"To be" is part of the "continuous tense" verb structure.

She coughs. present simple

She coughed. past simple

She is coughing. present continuous

She was coughing. past continuous

She has coughed. present perfect

She had coughed. past perfect

She has been coughing. present perfect continuous

She had been coughing. past perfect continuous

In my experience, "She's been coughing a lot lately" is often used in casual conversation. There's no simpler way to express this thought, that I know of.

You can also use the infinitive directly: I didn't expect her to be coughing like this!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

nerdikarp She's been coughing for the last few days.

Is there a more causual way to say the same thing? The above sounds too formal. And what does 'been' mean?
Thanks!

Hi;

It's not formal at all. But you could say: She's had a bad cough for the last few days.

Been is a helping verb. It is needed to make the present perfect progressive tense of the main verb cough.

Here is an example with the verb spend

I spend a lot of money. (present tense)

I am spending a lot of money. (present progressive tense)

I spent a lot of money. (simple past tense)

I was spending a lot of money. (past progressive tense)

I have spent a lot of money. (present perfect tense)

I have been spending a lot of money. (present perfect progressive tense)

"she's been..." confused with been

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