What is the difference between “being” and “having been”?

Question

My mom has asked me quite often: What is the difference between “being” and “having been”? She still struggles with the difference between the two phrases. Although I’m aware of how they are different, I don’t know how to explain the difference. I believe I have attempted to explain it to her before, but she really struggles to understand because both “being” and “having been” sound the same to her phonetically. When my mom pronounces “being” and “been” out loud they sound exactly the same to me, but only when she pronounces it. I don’t think her Spanish accent when speaking English is that unique. She is probably not the only one having trouble with this.

Here are a couple of examples of how I understand the difference:

Example sentence for "having been": "...but you have been doing that for a while (or all this time)"

Example sentence for "being": "you are being (acting) nice right now."

Answer 1

having been refers to things done that started in the past while being refers to things in the present only

Answer 2

"have been" is something that already occurred and it could still be going on.

"I/They/We have been ill."

"Being" is something that is occurring right now.

I am being a good steward.

He is being a wonderful teacher/student.

"Had been" is also in the past.

"He had been a great resource to me." This is no longer occurring.

He "has been" a great resource to me," is a different form wherein it's still occurring.

In this ex, however, it would be incorrect to use "having been":

"Having been a teacher, she enjoys being around children". First, you are adding past and present together which can confuse the reader.

"Having been" is totally wrong, You would have to form the present perfect tense instead. So, you could say , "he/she has been a teacher in the past."

In the past perfect you could say, "he/she had been a teacher." Take note that there are slight changes between "has" and "had" whereby "been" remains constantly a participle of "be". That means "has" is a present core verb and "had" is a past core verb.

He/she IS being a teacher, that is the form of present progressive tense, meaning "right now" and so on. This is the accurate way to write it.

Answer 3

Generally, “being” and “ been” refer to two different times.

Being refers to the present, OR to a continuing action. “Been” refers to the past, OR to something that started in the past but is continuing into the present.

1. My mother is being tested for COVID - 19. (present)
2. my mother was being tested for COVID-19 while I waited in the car. (past and continuing)
3. I have been to Japan. (past)
4. She has been there for me all along. (past and also continuing)
5. we have been studying for three hours. (past and continuing)