Introduction

In everyday news, workplace updates, and formal announcements, we often focus on what has happened rather than who did it. The present perfect passive is especially useful when the action is recent, relevant now, or when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately not mentioned. This unit will help you form and use the present perfect passive accurately to describe recent events and experiences with a clear, professional tone.

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to form the present perfect passive, choose when to use it instead of the active voice, include or omit the agent appropriately, and use it with common time expressions to report recent events and experiences.

1) Form: how to build the present perfect passive

The present perfect passive is formed with has/have + been + past participle. It combines two ideas: (1) present perfect meaning (a past action with a present result or relevance) and (2) passive voice meaning (the focus is on the receiver of the action).

Affirmative
Subject + has/have + been + past participle
Example: The report has been completed.

Negative
Subject + has/have + not + been + past participle
Example: The invoices have not been sent yet.

Questions
Has/Have + subject + been + past participle?
Example: Has the meeting been postponed?

Short answers
Yes, it has. / No, it hasn’t.    Yes, they have. / No, they haven’t.

Important concept
In the passive, the “doer” (agent) is optional. If you include it, use by: The system has been upgraded by the IT team.

2) Meaning and use: why we choose this tense

We use the present perfect passive to describe actions that happened in the past but are connected to the present. The passive voice lets us highlight the result, the process, or the affected object/person.

A) Recent events with present relevance
The contract has been signed, so we can start the project.

B) Experiences and achievements (often in formal contexts)
Several new policies have been introduced this year.

C) When the agent is unknown, not important, or deliberately omitted
My laptop has been stolen. (We don’t know who did it.)
The documents have been archived. (The action matters more than the person.)

D) When the agent is relevant, add it with “by”
The issue has been resolved by customer support.

3) Present perfect passive vs present perfect active

Both structures describe a past action connected to the present, but they focus on different elements.

Active (focus on the agent)
The team has completed the report.

Passive (focus on the result/object)
The report has been completed.

In professional writing, the passive is common when the result is more important than who performed the action, especially in reports, procedures, and announcements.

4) Time expressions and typical adverbs

The present perfect passive often appears with time expressions that connect past actions to “now.”

Common choices
already, just, recently, lately, so far, yet, today, this week, this month, in the last few days

Examples:
The files have already been uploaded.
A new version has just been released.
No decision has been made yet.
Several complaints have been received this week.

Warning
Do not confuse been with being. Present perfect passive uses been: “has been repaired,” not “has being repaired.”

5) Common patterns and useful classroom-ready models

Reporting updates
The schedule has been updated.
All participants have been informed.

Describing changes
The website has been redesigned.
The rules have been clarified.

Describing problems and solutions
An error has been detected.
The problem has been fixed.

With “by” when responsibility matters
The proposal has been approved by the board.

Practice

Practice section
Complete each sentence using the present perfect passive. Then check your answers in the table.