BEEN or GONE – Grammar Explanation

The difference between the words BEEN and GONE is a nice example of how closely grammar and vocabulary are connected. Usually, when you use a grammar rule wrongly, the meaning does not change. However, in this case, the wrong usage changes the meaning of the sentence completely.

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To help you explain this grammar to your students, in this post there is an infographic and an interactive video. The infographic tries to explain the grammar in a simple visual way. The video offers the explanation and there are two exercises. Your students can practise the grammar, too, as there are always gaps when the students can say their answers to the questions.

The following infographic explains the usage of the words BEEN and GONE in the present perfect tense.

Been and Gone full size image

As you can see in the infographic, the form HAVE BEEN is used when we want to say that the person is back at home, but they were somewhere before. We use the form HAVE GONE if the person went away and has not returned yet.

To make the explanation clearer and more interesting, I created the following video.

The video is interactive. It has been recorded in such a way, that your students can answer most of the tasks themselves. When the speaker asks a question, there is always a gap that is seven seconds long. In this pause, students can answer the questions. They hear the correct answer then. This is a great feedback for them as they can see whether they answered correctly or not.

You can learn more about the present perfect tense at British Council website.

Another useful website explaining the difference between the words BEEN and GONE is the BBC learning English website.