This year has been being great?

Solution 1:

It's a little unusual, but perfectly grammatical.

It is not idiomatic for your example, but it is in the case when we are talking about somebody deliberately behaving in a certain way over a period.

For example:

I've been being very quiet this afternoon.

He's been being friendly all day.

(By contrast He's been friendly all day is neutral: it doesn't imply that he has been deliberately or effortfully friendly).

Solution 2:

This year has been being great sounds awful to me. It's using the past participle right next to the present participle, and I have never seen this. Been going is better, but has been great so/thus far sounds best to me.

In my opinion none of the usages make a projection that the year is likely to continue being great.

Solution 3:

It's a little awkward, if not ungrammatical. Here's why:

It's often claimed that verbs denote actions. A little contemplation is all that's needed to refute this claim. Possessive HAVE, for example, does not depict an action:

• I have a Ferrari.

Verbs such as like or believe don't usually describe actions either. It is perfectly natural to say Bob doesn't like George Bush even when Bob is unconscious. We could also say Bob believes that you're a good friend in the same situation. This would seem to show that these verbs do not describe actions at all in such instances. Verbs which genuinely do describe actions are often referred to as dynamic verbs. Verbs which (usually) don't, are usually described as stative verbs or state verbs.

Continuous constructions in English, for example the Present Continuous, or, as in the Original Poster's example, the Present Perfect Continuous can only freely be used with dynamic verbs. The use of the continuous aspect with stative verbs is very restricted. One such usage is the one described in Colin's answer above, namely when we describe someone deliberately choosing to behave in a certain way (or be in a particular state) for a period of time. Note that the subject of the verb in such instances is of course required to be animate:

• She's been being very quiet.
• The restaurant's been being very quiet. * (awkward)

It is worth noting that some verbs such as BE and HAVE can combine with certain complements, however, to give a dynamic interpretation:

• have a party
• be an idiot

and there is no constraint on these verbs being used in continuous constructions when used with a dynamic interpretation. In other words it is the interpretation of a verb as dynamic or stative which tends to determine whether it can be used in a continuous construction. Consider the following:

• I was just remembering our time in Paris.
• I'm not remembering his name. * (awkward)

The Original Poster's example is awkward because it uses the stative predicate be great, in a continuous construction. Note that we cannot make an exception on account of the year deliberately deciding to be great for a certain period of time, because obviously, a year is not an animate entity.

In conclusion stative verbs are don't tend to get along with continuous constructions all that well, and for this reason the sentence:

• It's been a great year.

... will be more favourably regarded by most listeners than:

• It's been being a great year.

In contrast

• I have been trying to speak to her.

.. will be fine because try clearly has a dynamic meaning and so can occur freely in this continuous construction.