For having been

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

Please tell me what is this construction called?

“having been told”, “having been taught”, “having been given”

Like in this sentence

I am grateful to you for having been given me the opportunity.

What is this tense or what this construction called?
Thanks

2

It’s related to “have been”, the simple present perfect tense used to express completed action.
Examples: I have been to Rome.
The present perfect form is also used in formation of perfect continuous tenses to express the duration of an action.
I have been reading this book for three hours.

“Having been” is the past (perfect) participle form and used to emphasize that a first action has been completed before a second action begins.
Your example needs some recasting as it is incorrect as written.
You could say:
I am grateful for having been given the opportunity (by you).
or
Having been given the opportunity (by you), I am grateful.

The action of being given the opportunity is now complete, and you are expressing your gratitude that you were offered it (possibly you are also indicating whether or not you are accepting the offer, though you might already have done this.

Usually the construction would be like this

Having been given the book, Rida looked for a place to read it in peace.
Having been taught to be polite, Rida was always careful to say ‘thank you’.
Having been told that the website was down, Rida used books for research instead.

3

I would refer to it as perfect participle.
Active form:Having said that, I want to introduce you to your new teacher.
Passive (used when we want to emphasise an earlier time): “Having been nominated three times for an Oscar, he is one of today’s most acclaimed film directors. (He has been nominated three times for an Oscar, and he is one of today’s most acclaimed film directors.”

grammaring.com/tags/grammar- … participle

4

[color=blue]Your question has been dealt with, but I want to comment on the grammar you used to ask it.

“Please tell me what is this construction called?”

[color=blue]The above is not a question! ‘please tell me’ is a request, so the question mark and grammar are wrong. The grammar below is correct.

‘Please tell me what this construction is called.’

5

Beeesneees,
I am grateful for having been given the opportunity.
I hope the above sentence is correct.
I am grateful to you for having been given the opportunity.
How could I say that above sentence is wrong?
Please clarify the grammar points involved.
Thanks.

6

Neither of those sentences is incorrect.

7

This -

isn’t clear. Who has been given the opportunity?

8

It seems that I is the only possibility.

9

It’s perfectly clear. “I”.

10

Thank you sooooo much everyone :slight_smile:
I have been waiting for reply from this forum, but sadly I didn’t receive any email that would have notified me that my question here had been dealt. Today by chance I thought to visit my query again and was surprised to see that you friends have noticed my question. I am really thankful :slight_smile:

Thanks Canadian45. You are right. It confuses me to fathom what is a statement/request and what is question. Ok, from now I will take care of it not to put question mark at the end of those sentences that sound request.

Thanks a lot again :slight_smile:

11

I’d say it is a ‘passive perfective participle’ construction indicating past tense.

12

Apart from what teachers and moderators said, I’d say that it can equally be the perfect passive gerund.

For example:

  1. The older students recalled having been taught that already.

  2. Tim resented having been taken advantage of.

  3. He complained of having been unjustly accused.

                Thanks.
13

Thanks :slight_smile: