Expression: "I have been hearing"

[KYTTIE]

Test No. incompl/elem-4 "Listen/Hear", question 10

I have been ......... strange stories about you recently but I do hope that there is no substance in them.

(a) listened to
(b) listenting to
(c) heard
(d) hearing

Test No. incompl/elem-4 "Listen/Hear", answer 10

I have been hearing strange stories about you recently but I do hope that there is no substance in them.

Correct answer: (d) hearing

Your answer was: incorrect
I have been heard strange stories about you recently but I do hope that there is no substance in them.
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Could you please explain more about this sentence?
I think it's "I have been heard..." because it comes together with "recently".
Is it the present perfect tense?

KYTTIE

[Torsten]

Well, Present Perfect would be I have heard. The tense you are referring to is Present Perfect Continuous (or Present Perfect Progressive): I have been hearing.
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[whitegoat]

[Rich7]

Let me try to sum it up for you:

PRESENT PERFECT
A tense that indicates that an action or state has been completed at some indefinite time up to the present, as in "I have lived in four countries.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
It is used to emphasise the duration of a recent past activity. It can also be used for actions that began in the past and are still going on now.

[karry45]

don't understand why using Present Perfect Continuous here? I think using Present Perfect is correct.

[Alan]

This topic first appeared because the questioner wanted to write I have been heard, which is clearly wrong because that is the Perfect passive. The question really revolves around I have heard or I have been hearing. Now when I wrote this sentence I included recently and also added I do hope there is no ... which is Present tense. My intention was to indicate that these stories are current and so they are still going on. And that is the main reason why I have chosen the Present Perfect Continuous.

Hope this helps

Alan
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[Majid]

[Alan]

Hi Majid,

You are quite right when you say that verbs referring to the senses are not usually found in the continuous forms. But that is the case when the verbs are used with their first meaning. So hear for example when it means using the facility provided by your ears and see using the facility provided by your eyes as another example take the simple form in most cases. But you can use these verbs and other verbs of the senses in a second meaning and that is the way in which I have used 'hear'in the sentence I have been hearing stories because this really means: stories have been coming to my notice. Similarly we could say: Thanks to the internet we are seeing changes in the way people get information. Here seeing means noticing.

I hope this helps.

Alan
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[Viviana]

In the sentence: I do hope that there is no substance in them.

Why you use do, can we say only I hope ?

[Alan]

Hi Viviana,

In this sentence:

I do hope that there is no substance in them. do is used for emphasis as in: I really/honestly hope ...

Alan
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[Seanmen]

[Alan]

Hi,

This means ' they are not true '.

Alan
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[Seanmen]

Great.

Thanks.

[Aleksandra]

If there is continuous form of verb "to hear"? It is impossible "have been hearing" because we can't use to hear for Continuous Tenses, cannot we?

[Mister Micawber]

.
Yes, most of the static verbs can appear in continuous form when the duration of the activity is being considered, for example:

I've been hearing a lot about the US primaries lately.
.
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