Episode 35: It Has Been Done Before

Passive Perfect — Patent Office, 1900s (B1-B2)

Grammar Box

Meaning: Passive perfect emphasizes that something has been completed or experienced by someone/something, focusing on the result rather than who did it.

Form: has/have/had + been + past participle. (Present perfect: has been done. Past perfect: had been done.)

Example 1: “The work has been completed ahead of schedule.” (Focus on completion, not who completed it.)

Example 2: “By 1920, electricity had been installed in most urban homes.” (Past perfect passive—completion before another past point.)

Common mistake: Wrong: “The problem has been solve.” Better: “The problem has been solved.” (Need past participle after ‘been.’)

The Challenge

Luna read a history text: “By 1905, many inventions have been patent already.” Professor Wisdom circled two errors. “First, ‘patented’ not ‘patent.’ Second, when using ‘by’ with a past year, we need past perfect: ‘had been patented,’ not ‘has been.'” Luna tried: “Had been patented?” “Exactly,” he nodded. “Perfect passive shows completed results. Present perfect for results affecting now; past perfect for results completed before another past moment.” The watch glowed. “Let’s visit people who heard ‘it’s been done’ constantly.”

The Journey

Washington, D.C., early 1900s. The U.S. Patent Office buzzed with activity as inventors from across America submitted applications for new ideas. Patent examiners—meticulous, often skeptical men—reviewed thousands of submissions monthly, searching for true innovation among the noise.

Charles Holland Duell, the Commissioner of Patents, sat in his office surrounded by applications. A common myth claims he once said the Patent Office should close because everything that could be invented had been invented. He never said this, but many examiners felt that way privately.

One examiner reviewing an early automobile design wrote in his notes: “Similar concepts have been submitted before. Internal combustion engines have been patented by others. Wheels and steering mechanisms have been described in previous applications.” His tone suggested nothing new existed.

Another examiner reviewing early telephone improvements was more thoughtful: “Mr. Bell’s original patent has been granted. Significant improvements have been added by various inventors since. But this application shows genuine innovation in sound quality. Though telephones have been invented, they have not been perfected.”

A younger examiner, reviewing early airplane concepts before the Wright Brothers’ success, faced a dilemma. “Flying machines have been attempted for centuries. Birds have been studied extensively. Yet true controlled flight has not been achieved. Should we reject ideas because similar failures have been documented? Or recognize that each failure has been a step toward eventual success?”

One senior examiner finally articulated the paradox: “Everything has been tried. Nothing has been finished. The question isn’t whether it has been done, but whether it has been done well enough.”

The Deep Dive

Passive perfect (has/have/had been + past participle) emphasizes completed actions or experiences affecting subjects, with focus on the result or state rather than who performed the action. Present perfect passive (has/have been) connects past completion to present relevance. Past perfect passive (had been) shows completion before another past reference point.

Compare: “They have solved the problem” (active—who solved) vs. “The problem has been solved” (passive—the problem’s current state matters). Past perfect passive often appears with time markers like “by,” “before,” “already”: “By 1900, X had been invented.”

When NOT to use: Don’t overuse passive perfect in informal writing where active voice is clearer. “I’ve finished the report” often works better than “The report has been finished by me.” Use passive perfect when the subject receiving the action deserves emphasis or when the agent is unknown/unimportant.

More Examples

Achievement: “The company has been recognized as industry leader three times.” (Focus on company’s status, not who recognized it.)

Change: “The law has been amended several times since 1990.” (Emphasis on the law’s evolution.)

Past perfect: “By the time I arrived, the decision had already been made.” (Decision completed before my arrival.)

Experience: “This mistake has been made by beginners countless times.” (Universal experience, agent unimportant.)

Contrast: “Someone invented the telephone in 1876” (active—when) vs. “The telephone has been used for over 140 years” (passive perfect—ongoing result of that invention).

Practice & Reflection

Exercises:

1. Fill in the blank: The book _ (translate) into 50 languages so far.

2. Correct the mistake: “All tickets have been sell out for tonight’s concert.”

3. Choose and explain: Which uses past perfect passive correctly?
   a) “The email has been sent before the meeting started.”
   b) “The email had been sent before the meeting started.”

4. Rewrite: Transform “They have discovered a cure for that disease” into passive perfect, focusing on the cure.

5. Compare: Explain the difference between “The house was built in 1920” and “The house had been built by 1920.”

6. Your reflection: Write a passive perfect sentence about something that has been achieved or changed in your field or community.

Answer Key:
1. has been translated (present perfect passive—50 languages up to now)
2. “…have been sold out…” (Need past participle ‘sold,’ not base form.)
3. (b) uses past perfect passive correctly (action completed before another past event). (a) incorrectly mixes present perfect with past reference.
4. “A cure has been discovered for that disease.” (Focus on cure, not who discovered it.)
5. “Was built” = simple past passive (action in 1920). “Had been built by 1920” = past perfect (completion before 1920; built sometime earlier).
6. Check: Does your sentence use ‘has/have been + past participle’ to emphasize a completed result? Example: “Our city’s public transportation system has been improved significantly over the past decade.”

The Lesson

Luna understood. “So ‘has been done’ doesn’t mean we should stop. It means we know what’s been tried, and can build on it?” The Professor smiled. “Exactly. The patent examiners who understood this saw that ‘has been attempted’ and ‘has been achieved’ are different. The telephone had been dreamed about for centuries, but it hadn’t been invented until Bell. The airplane had been fantasized about forever, but it hadn’t been flown until the Wright Brothers.” Luna nodded. Sometimes “it has been done before” is just the beginning of the real work.