Is selected Vs has been selected

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ravikumarkargam

#542678 Thu, 17 Jul 08 03:25 AM

I would like to know the difference between "is selected" and "has been selected" in the following sentence.

if nothing is selected, all types will be shown, otherwise, only the selected types will be shown

Is this a right sentence? If yes, can I use

if nothing has been selected, all types will be shown, otherwise, only the selected types will be shown.

Please clarify the difference.

Thanks,
Ravi

ravikumarkargam

Joined on Wed, Feb 27 2008

New Member (31)

Difference Between, Been

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Cool Breeze

#542810 Thu, 17 Jul 08 10:09 AM

Is selected refers to the state rather than the act of slecting. Has been selected refers to the act rather than the state. In actual usage there is often no real difference in meaning and either tense can be used:

This extract is taken / has been taken from Hemingway's book "A Farewell to Arms".

This rarely causes confusion or ambiguity and results from there being only one passive structure (be + past participle) in English.

Cf. The door is closed at nine o'clock. (Act referred to.)

The door is closed all night. (State referred to.)

Common sense tells us that the closing of the door doesn't take all night. Smile In many languages a different structure must be used in these cases.