why can past perfect "been" be used in this sentence?
sentence: A 2014 EU survey of 42,000 women across all 28 member states found that 26% of French respondents said they been abused by a partner since age 15, either physically or sexually.
is this sentence grammatically correct? aren't we supposed to use "said they had been" instead of "said they been"?

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Answer

Yes, you are correct. They left out the necessary auxiliary verb, had.

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You are correct that there is an error in the sentence and your correction is correct.

Alice is also correct that been is passive voice there and some English teachers believe you should avoid it. It is very common though. The word been is not what makes it past perfect, past perfect is created from “had” followed by a past participle like abused in this case.

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I guess they have mistakenly omitted a necessary part of a phrase, which is an auxiliary verb "had" behind "been" as you have just correctly pointed out.

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I think this is a passive phrase, in my opinion the correct form should be ..said they were abused by a partner.....

Answers · 4

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