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What is the difference in meaning in these two sentences?

He is appointed as Manager.

and

He has been appointed as Manager.


Similarly, what is the difference between these two sentences?

Amount has been paid to you as basic salary.

and

Amount is paid to you as basic salary.

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2 Answers 2

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For all practical purposes, there's really not much difference in meaning. Either one could be used to announce the appointment of a new manager.

Let's assume we appoint Renee as the manager today. Our Regional Director comes into the office to make the announcement:

Renee is appointed as Manager.

Tomorrow, an absent co-worker comes into work, and asks:

Who was appointed Manager?

(This co-worker uses the past tense, because the appointment happened yesterday). I might reply:

Renee has been appointed has manager.

So, why didn't I say, "Renee was appointed as the manager" instead? Because Renee is still the manager! I could use was – it wouldn't be incorrect – but it might lead to some confusion. I can imagine my co-worker saying:

Was? What do you mean, "was"? Isn't Renee still the manager?

The further the event moves into the past, though, the more natural was will sound, because we're talking about an historical event, rather than a current event. Imagine we fast-forward two years into the future, and I am training a brand-new employee:

Tracy was our manager until two years ago, but then he retired.
Oh, then what happened?
Then Renee was appointed as Manager.

Renee's appointment is no longer a current event, so "has been" doesn't sound right in that context.

This looks a lot like the present perfect continuous tense, except that tense uses a verb that ends with -ing:

Our company president has been appointing a lot of hot shots with very little experience.

I'm don't think your sentence is quite the same thing, though, because of how we'd parse your original sentence. It's not:

Renee (has been) (appointed) (as Manager).

but:

Renee (has) (been appointed) (as Manager).

So, we're really dealing with passive voice here, not the present perfect continuous tense. In active voice, we would say:

The company president has appointed Renee as Manager.

or, the Regional Director might say:

We have appointed Renee as Manager.

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    Personally, I would say Ray was appointed the manager. I wouldn't find any confusion as to whether Ray was still the manager, because we're talking about the appointment to the position, not the holding of the position itself. On the other hand, the difference between "Ray was the manager" and "Ray has been the manager" is clear in this regard, the former implies that Ray is no longer the manager, and the latter implies that he still is.
    – BobRodes
    Commented Feb 4, 2014 at 20:10
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    @Bob - You'll get no argument from me, and I'm glad someone offered a dissenting opinion. This is one of those situations where there is more than one way to get the point across without violating the rules of grammar.
    – J.R.
    Commented Feb 4, 2014 at 20:12
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Amount has been paid to you as basic salary:

Present perfect in this sentence expresses an action that has been done a short while ago, and it deals with a single action. And "you" designates a single person.

Amount is paid to you as basic salary:

Simple present here expresses what is done as a habit in the company rules, the company usually pays this amount as basic salary. According to context (insufficient in your sentence) "you" can represent a single person or all the employees.

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  • wanted to ask further. "Amount is Paid to you as Basic Salary" does it mean the current status of the amount paid?
    – user4084
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 6:32
  • Also. Below changes are done. (Current Status) and Below changes have been done. ( change done in past)
    – user4084
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 6:33
  • "Amount is Paid to you as Basic Salary" describes your current basic salary. Commented Mar 4, 2019 at 18:06

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