Catherine: That's exactly right, Veronica! Elena can't go to the party because it has been cancelled. Listen to Diarmuid again: Diarmuid: The party has been cancelled! Diarmuid used a present perfect passive sentence. He could have used an present perfect active sentence, like this: Diarmuid: William has cancelled the party. But he wanted to talk about the party, not William! So the party moves to the beginning of the sentence, and he doesn't talk about William at all: Diarmuid: The party has been cancelled! In the present perfect tense, we use have or has with a past participle, but for present perfect passive sentences, we use has been, or have been, followed by the past participle. So we get the party, followed by has been, then the past participle – cancelled. Listen one more time: Diarmuid: The party has been cancelled! Got it? But don't forget, when people are speaking, they often shorten words like is or has, so they sound like this: Diarmuid: The party's been cancelled! The has is shortened to 's' in the spoken form, so watch out for that. Ok, that's all from me. Good luck with your grammar challenge! ...
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