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James Healey Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Why is “there has been again fantastic work...” wrong?

Hello. My first post here. I’m hoping someone can help me and provide a technical explanation as to why the following is wrong.

The boss of my department recently sent a “morale boosting” email. It was (in my opinion) very poorly written. It started off:

“Over the past week there has been again fantastic work across all parts of our department. “

I’m pretty sure “has been again” is wrong - it certainly sounds awful. But what grammatical rule is it breaking? I think (but am ready to be corrected) that this sentence is present perfect continuous tense. Therefore “again” is (I think!) an adverb qualifying the auxiliary verb “been”. But adverbs can come after their verbs, so why does this sound so bad?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

James

  

Top answer

James Healey Over the past week there has been again fantastic work across all parts of our department. “I’m pretty sure “has been again” is wrong - it certainly sounds awful. It sounds OK to me if the week was unfinished at the time, though the word 'past' grates—as does 'all parts of'.

— Mister Micawber

  • James Healey Over the past week there has been again fantastic work across all parts of our department.
  • “I’m pretty sure “has been again” is wrong - it certainly sounds awful.
  • It sounds OK to me if the week was unfinished at the time, though the word 'past' grates—as does 'all parts of'.
  • James Healey I think (but am ready to be corrected) that this sentence is present perfect continuous tense.
  • I will have to correct you it is just present perfect.
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1 Answers
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James HealeyOver the past week there has been again fantastic work across all parts of our department. “I’m pretty sure “has been again” is wrong - it certainly sounds awful.

It sounds OK to me if the week was unfinished at the time, though the word 'past' grates—as does 'all parts of'.

James Healey I think (but am ready to be co
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