I could use some help in a grammar discussion between a fellow English teacher.
The sentence in question is:
Football has always been the biggest thing in David Beckham's life.
vs
Football has been always the biggest thing in David Beckham's life.
My thought is that the 1st sentence is correct but then how do I go about justifying my reason.
always is modifying been. Been is acting as a verb or is acting as a helping verb? Then what is has a verb or a helping verb?
The more we try to break this sentence down the more we go crazy:lol:
********** NOT A TEACHER **********
Hello, Reddogrog.
(1) The placement of adverbs also drives many native speakers like me
crazy, too.
(2) There is a good explanation in
The Grammar Book by Mesdames
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman. Many teachers use that book.
(a) They say something that is very important:
Adverbs such as
always actually modify the whole sentence.
So I guess that your sentence really means:
IT HAS
ALWAYS BEEN THE CASE THAT football has been the biggest
thing in David Beckham's life.
Of course, if you are teaching high school, it would probably just be easier
to say that
always modifies the verb phrase
has been.
(3) I was able to get these examples of
always from Mr.
Michael Swan's popular Practical English Usage:
We
always used to go in May.
We used
always to go in May.
We used to
always go in May.
Always look in the mirror before starting to drive. (
IMPORTANT: You can
start a sentence with
always only if it is something like an order.)
(a) Since you can put
always in many different positions, then I guess
that proves what Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman say: it
modifies the whole sentence.
(4) Finally, those two scholars ask this question:
How would you explain to your students the difference between
(a) I have
always told the truth.
(b) I
always HAVE told the truth.
If I understand them correctly, (a) is the usual way. There is no
emphasis. It is just a statement. Like: I have always gotten up early
every morning; I have always read a newspaper every day, etc.
(b) shows emphasis. When you speak, you put the stress (loud
sound) on the auxiliary verb
have.
Police officer: I think that you told the truth last week. But I think that
you are lying today. I think that sometimes you tell me the truth, and
sometimes you lie to me.
Man: No, sir. You are wrong. I always
have (!!!) told you the truth.
Please believe me!
Thank you
