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One of my friend got job and I want to tell this news to my other friends. How should I say it? He is selected for a job. He was selected for a job. He has been selected for a job.

muhammad
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  • Any of these options is technically correct, although I don't think the first one would be used very often. – bcc32 Jul 04 '13 at 20:42
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    Dear Muhammad, as of the time of this writing six out of six of your questions got closed, and four of them migrated to a sister site. Please do start getting the message. Thank you. – RegDwigнt Jul 04 '13 at 20:54

1 Answers1

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"Is selected" describes the state he is in. "Selected" can be an adjective, so that is grammatical but it's not very idiomatic. "He is short-listed for the job" would be fine, though.

"Was selected" for a job is a completed action, which again is grammatical, but seems to invite the idea that something has happened since. "He was selected for a job but they withdrew the offer when they discovered he couldn't get a work permit."

"He has been selected for a job" is probably the most idiomatic of the three, though I'd be more inclined to say "He's been offered a job" -- the selection probably went on behind closed doors, the offer is what he knows about.

digitig
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  • digi, but one can only form a passive sentence from an active sentence when there is an object in the active sentence, so, immagining the latter, in the OP's case, which is the object, "he" or his boss? –  Jul 04 '13 at 21:48
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    The sentence hasn't been formed from an active sentence, as far as I can see. It appears to have started life in its present short-passive form. But "He has been selected for a job" is a perfectly normal passive form of "[somebody] has selected him for a job". – digitig Jul 04 '13 at 22:04
  • digi, thanks again, very instructive comment, especially considering that I'm an incompetent speaker. –  Jul 04 '13 at 22:10