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Which of the following sentences is/are grammatically correct?
Of the correct ones: what is the difference in meaning?
Are there other (more correct or more precise) ways to express the same meaning?

  1. Being 19 weeks outside the womb my baby has learned to grab things.
  2. Having been 19 weeks outside the womb my baby has learned to grab things.
  3. Having been being 19 weeks outside the womb my baby has learned to grab things.

The answers to What is the difference between "being" and "having been" in this context? don't help me because:

  • The sentences in the linked question do not include a period of time and mentioning periods of time changes the tense usage.
  • The sentences in the linked question imply causal relationship whereas my sentences imply temporal relationship.
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  • None of the three sound correct to me, nor do they sound idiomatic.
    – SovereignSun
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 4:41
  • @SovereignSun What could be a correct and idiomatic variant?
    – Min-Soo Pipefeet
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 21:09

1 Answer 1

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The first two are grammatical and come across as idiomatic. The third does not.

In the case of Being 19 weeks outside the womb my baby has learned to grab things, you are stating that your baby is currently 19 weeks outside the womb and that, as a consequence, it has learned to grab things. Being 19 weeks outside the womb is a state that your baby currently is in.

In the case of Having been 19 weeks outside the womb my baby has learned to grab things, you are stating that your baby, at some time in the past, was 19 weeks outside the womb, and, as a consequence, your baby now has learned to grab things.

I hope that clears things up!

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    Thx, it clears up a bit. Could you please explain what "come across as idiomatic" does mean? (I've looked up the meaning of "idiomatic" but found two meanings which sound quite different to me, so I cannot decide which meaning applies in this case.)
    – Min-Soo Pipefeet
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 20:36
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    @Min-SooPipefeet In this case, I'm using idiomatic to mean that it seems natural to the language as the language is spoken natively. It can also mean more generally that it's particular or characteristic to something, such that an idiom is particular or characteristic to a language (or languages, perhaps).
    – user64906
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 21:07

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