How many auxiliary verbs does the sentence below have?

Question

I had a disagreement with someone about the sentence below.
"The homework has been completed".
A friend said there aren't two auxiliaries but as I see it, there are three verbs: has, been, completed. 'Completed' is clearly the main verb. Are 'has' and 'been' considered to be two separate auxiliary verbs? Or are they treated as one?

chasly - supports Monica · Accepted Answer

"The homework has been completed"

There are two auxiliary verbs but they are auxiliary to different verbs!

The verb "to be" forms the passive voice in English. This is an auxiliary verb that affects the verb "to complete".  Thus the active verb "to complete" has the passive form "to be completed"

The verb "to have" forms the present perfect in English. In this particular case, the
verb "to have" is an auxiliary of the verb "to be".

Thus:
"to have been completed" is the present perfect passive (infinitive) of the verb "to complete".
In this case, "have" is auxiliary to "been" and "been" is auxiliary to "completed".
Does that explain it?

How many auxiliary verbs does the sentence below have?

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