What is the difference among "have been", "having been", and "have been doing"? What is the difference between "have been doing" and "have been here"?

Question

My logic for how I understand/define “having been” is to use ” have been” in a sentence first, like this: ”...you have been doing that for a while (or all this time)” and ”...you have been here for a while (or all this time). The mental pictures I have in my head when I think of “have been” in these two examples is: 1. a person goes to a desk at a library and studies everyday and then I meet the person and we talk. The person says I study at the library every day and only then can I reply: you have been doing that for a while (or all this time), 2. a person sits in front of the TV from morning to night and then I knock on the door and we talk. The person says I sit in front of the TV from morning to night and only then can I reply: you have been here all this time. I first need to recognize when I can use “have been”, then I can recognize how “having been” applies and I can use it in my thoughts or out loud, like this: “having been in the library doing something every day this person goes to the library, this person has developed useful study habits” and “having been in front of the TV watching it from morning to night, this person has really gained weight.” I can’t understand/define “having been” without “have been” and to me “doing” and “here” are just two examples of words that I can choose from to place after “having been” or “have been” when I speak and write.

Answer 1

"have been", "having been", and "have been doing"? What is the difference between "have been doing" and "have been here"?

This is actually a question about verb tenses (which, admittedly, can be really confusing). The easiest way to understand the differences between all those versions of the same phrase, I've found, is to break it all down so you can see what the tenses do/change:

1. Present Simple - expresses events that happen in the present but are not actions happening now; used for facts, habits (habitual actions), general truths, and states of being.
2. I do, I do do
3. Present Continuous/Progressive - indicates that an action or condition is happening now, frequently, and may continue into the future.
4. I am doing
5. Present Perfect - refers to an action or state that started in the past and continues in the present; an action performed during a period that has not yet finished; a repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now; An action that was completed in the very recent past, expressed by ‘just;’ an action when the specific time is not important (because the action is what’s important); used to talk about things where there is a connection between the past and the present.
6. I have done, I have just done, having been done (this one is in the passive voice construction, meaning, the subject, "I," will become the object and the object, "that," becomes the subject acting on the verb)
7. Present Perfect Continuous/Progressive - is used to describe an action that began in the past, is unfinished, and continues into the future.
8. I have been doing

The difference, too, is in how the reader understands the order of events:

1. "I do that" or "I do do that" - Present simple doesn't give any specific time reference; rather, it just confirms that the subject ("I") does do whatever the action in question is.
2. "I am doing that" - Present Continuous/Progressive (you'll see it referred to by either of those names) indicates that the action, which started sometime prior to "now," is still actively being done.
3. "I have done that" or "I have just done that" or "That, having been done by me" or "That, having just been done by me" - Present Perfect so indicate actions that are done/complete at the time this is being said.
4. "I have been doing" - Present Continuous/Progressive means that you started the action sometime before "now" (whenever that is in terms of when this is being said), but the action itself is still ongoing; it's not finished yet.

I hope that helps make things just a bit easier to understand!

Answer 2

As you probably know, “have” and “be” in all their glorious grammatical forms work several different jobs as main verbs (We have fun. They are silly. I am here.) and as helping verbs. (We have played games. They are being silly. I have been here.) In "I have been here," "have" is a helping verb, the main verb is a form of "be," and "here" is an adverb of place.

Looking first at “We played games” and “We were playing games,” we know that both sentences speak of past action. The second example sentence (“were playing”) involves a stated or implied comparison of timelines. A second past activity is referenced maybe by vague hint or by outright explanation, possibly even including use of the word “while” in the sense of “while at the same time” or “meanwhile” to identify the activities and reveal the parallelism in those timelines.

In “We have played games” and “We have been playing games,” this time, as you know, both sentences convey that an action started in the past, and it has not necessarily ended. The second example sentence again involves a timeline comparison (and thus, grammatically we apply the “perfect-progressive” [aspect]). Again, a second activity is referenced that also started in the past and has also not necessarily ended. In your library example (“you have been doing that for a while”), your explanation revealed a second activity: someone has been gathering a set of observations during a similar time frame.

As a bonus, let us consider simple present tense and when to use present-progress. What is the difference in meaning between “We play games” and “We are playing games”? We know it has to do with routines vs. present moment. Maybe this helps: Perhaps when the English-speaking world reports something about the present moment (“We are playing games”) [as opposed to its routines (“We play games”)], through mere use of progressive [aspect], it also references a second activity “as this moment passes.”

Answer 3

Have been means that something has begun in the past but can still occur. It is the same as saying has been. An example of this would be, I have been to the movies several times. This means that although you have been to the movies, this is an event that is still occurring or that can still occur. Having been should never be said or written. It is not proper English. We would use has been or have been. Have been doing means that it started up in the past but is still going on. An example of this would be, I have been doing this assignment since this morning. Have been here means you already did it. An example of this would be, I have been here before.