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A: I like to paint.
B: Really? Have you used it as a way to distract yourself from everything that's gone on / been going on?
Let's say B has recently lost her dad after a long battle with illness, but she's of course still affected by the loss. Which of gone on and been going on would be more common/make more sense to use in that particular situation?
Definitely “been going on.”
Actually, “gone on” wouldn’t really work at all, and not just idiomatically but also in a grammatical sense. “Been going on” and “gone on” do not mean the same thing, because “going on” is essentially a colloquial way of saying “happening.” That’s really the only context it can be used in. For example, you wouldn’t usually say that something that happened yesterday “went on.” Thus, “going on” isn’t actually a form of the verb phrase “go on.”
This may differ by region, but I personally would not use the phrase in that way.
B: Really? Have you used it as a way to distract yourself from everything that's gone on / been going on?
that's gone on. can refer to the fact that father passed away at some point in time that is over.
that's been going on can refer to the death and its aftermath at the time of speaking in the present.
It a question of emphasis.
