Use of a passive form in certain context
Hello
I'm kinda new here, currently in 10th grade, Germany.
I got my English test back from my teacher today, and I feel like he's talking bullshit.
Short story long, there was one task where we had to fill in blanks with passive forms with a given verb. It was about Bob Marley. One sentence was: "[...], and Buffalo Soldier is one of his songs which ________ on the Radio for over 25 years now". I had the blank filled in with "has been playing" but I misread and forgot to put a passive form in. Until that point I see how I got minus for that. The thing I found absolutely retarded was how he crossed it out and corrected it with "has been played". Now, how is that supposed to work with the context of "for 25 years NOW". It clearly states that it's still ongoing to this point in time, but he fills it in with a tense indicating the action described is finished. I talked to him about it but he just told me over and over how it's not continuously playing on the radio, but rather has been played repeatedly. In retrospect, the only sensible tense is present continuous (I've ruled out present perfect continuous for the same reason I've ruled out my teacher's correction) since "it is playing for over 25 years now". How is past perfect supposed to fit into that sentence at all? Is there anything I'm missing? Or is my teacher simply just wrong? Any idea on how to convince him? Talking to him for seemingly half an hour with a few other people didn't get me any results, he just insisted on being right with the same arguments.
Top answer
"has been playing" and "has been played" both sound OK to me in that sentence. Obviously, as you say, the first is not passive so does not fit what you were asked to do. "has been played" can include activity up to the present, so I don't see a problem with its use with "now".
- "has been playing" and "has been played" both sound OK to me in that sentence.
- Obviously, as you say, the first is not passive so does not fit what you were asked to do.
- "has been played" can include activity up to the present, so I don't see a problem with its use with "now".
- It also does not necessarily imply that the activity will now stop.
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"has been playing" and "has been played" both sound OK to me in that sentence. Obviously, as you say, the first is not passive so does not fit what you were asked to do. "has been played" can include activity up to the present, so I don't see a problem with its use with "now". It also does not necessarily imply that the activity will now stop.
0It took me a while, but I can hear what you hear if I try. The solution to your problem would be "which has been being played on the Radio for over 25 years now." The mind of the native speaker rebels at such grammatical preciousness, and nobody would say that, and I do mean nobody. We abridge that to your teacher's version whether we like it or not, and we understand it so. He is right, but p
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