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ChronoManiac Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Which of these two sentences are correct?

Mosquitoes have become more intelligent in the last few years

Mosquitoes have been becoming more intelligent in the last few years

If both the statements are correct, then could you please tell about their usages? Under which condition which statement would be appropriate?
  

Top answer

ChronoManiac...... Mosquitoes have become more intelligent in the last few years . Maybe they are no longer becoming more intelligent.

— Canadian45

  • ChronoManiac......
  • Mosquitoes have become more intelligent in the last few years .
  • Maybe they are no longer becoming more intelligent.
  • Mosquitoes have been are becoming more intelligent in the last few years .
  • Use this sentence if their intelligence is still increasing.
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13 Answers
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ChronoManiac......Mosquitoes have become more intelligent in the last few years. Maybe they are no longer becoming more intelligent.

Mosquitoes have been are becoming more intelligent in the last few years. Use this sentence if their intelligence is still increasing.
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ChronoManiacMosquitoes have become more intelligent in the last few years.
This could mean that there was only one event in the last few years that made mosquitoes suddenly more intelligent.
ChronoManiacMosquitoes have been becoming more intelligent in the last few years.
This suggests that many different events occurred ove
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Thanks CalifJim

@canadian45 - But "have been" isn't incorrect though I guess? Could you please tell in which case should I use are becoming and in which case have been becoming?
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ChronoManiacThanks CalifJim@canadian45 - But "have been" isn't incorrect though I guess? Could you please tell in which case should I use are becoming and in which case have been becoming?
I don't think I would ever use "(has)(have) been becoming". I would express that as '(is)(are) becoming'.

Below is another person's opinon on this.
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It's really interesting and complex at the same time. We do say I've been wondering... but we don't really say I've been becoming... I suppose it's the nature of the verb become that causes that.
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Perfect Strangerwe don't really say I've been becoming...
It depends on who "we" is. Emotion: smile
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CalifJimChronoManiacMosquitoes have been becoming more intelligent in the last few years.

This suggests that many different events occurred over a period of time that made mosquitoes gradually more intelligent.
CJ
Hi. Can we use in with the perfect continuous such as it's used in that sentence? I mean, shouldn't we use words like fo
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CalifJimI don't see anything particularly objectionable about I've been becoming.
Neither do I. There are sixteen citations for HAVE been becoming in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and twelve in the British National Corpus, several of them from very respectable sources.
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SurferCan we use in with the perfect continuous such as it's used in that sentence?
Yes, we can. 'in' means 'during' in that expression.

'in' is more idiomatic than either 'for' or 'over' in that context, and 'over' is more idiomatic than 'for'. (My opinion.)

Actually, I don't think 'for' works at all, because the action of the situation is
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Then what's the difference between ...are becoming and ...have been becoming ?
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