I have been told vs I was told

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

Hi All

I am wondering what the difference is between I was told and I have told?
when did you use?

thanks

toxow

2

“I was told…” Somebody else told you.
“I have told…” You told somebody else.

“I was told that English was hard.”

“I have told you that English is hard.”
“I have told the truth.”

3

Thank you,

but what about if you say “I HAVE BEEN TOLD”?

tooxowcade

4

Then I would get a headache! :slight_smile: (Please don’t type in capitals only. It is known as ‘shouting’ on internet forums and similar).

That is the present perfect continuous (or progressive) tense of the verb ‘To tell’

You would use that to describe an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future:
“We have been told for ages that this forum is the best.”
“She has been told time and time again to make notes.”

You will often see it used in sentences where there is some uncertainty, like this:
“I have been told that I am good at English.” (but I don’t really know or I am unsure whether to believe them.)
“I have been told that the bank opens at 9am.” (but I thought it opened at 9.30am)

5

please accept my most sincere apologies, I just want to highlight.

Thank you

6

I realised that Tooxowcade, and I only mentioned it to stop you making the same mistake in future.

If you want to highlight your text there are several ways of doing it without using capital letters.

When you compose a new message, or when you click the answer or quote buttons to add a message to a thread, there are buttons above the text box which alllow you to format your text. (Please note that they do not appear if you use the quick reply text box). The same buttons appear if you edit a post you made previously.

Do you understand the grammar now? Was my explanation clear enough?

7

yeah, thanks

8

Excellent Beeesneees. I like that. It has been this (btw is this usage of ‘has been’ correct?) one thing that I kept pondering for the explanation. Great work. Keep it up.

9

Hi Shahul,

Glad you understand it now. You used ‘has been’ correctly - you were wondering about it in the past, but now you aren’t.

10

Thanks a bunch Beeesneees.

11

I think ‘I have been told’ is present perfect passive while ‘I was told’ is simple past passive. To illustrate the difference in use, please look at these examples:
I have been told many times that learning English is important.
Last night I was told that learning English is important.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Meat packing[YSaerTTEW443543]

12

Hi Beeesneees,

Surely you mean Present Perfect Simple here:
:

Tooxowcade :

Beeesneees:

Alan

13

Thanks for putting me right.