0

How many of you are being chosen?

How many of you are chosen?

How many of you have been chosen?

May I know which of the above are grammatical and the reason?

Improve this question
1
  • They are all grammatical, but have different meanings and would be used in different contexts.
    – Weather Vane
    Jan 15, 2020 at 11:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Here it's important to note that chosen can refer both to a state, like being happy. Or it can refer to the prior action of being chosen.

"How many of you are being chosen?" Refers to a future action, so you talking to a group that hasn't yet been chosen, but want to know how many expect to be chosen.

"How many of you are chosen?" Refers to a current state. Asking how many were previously chosen, and is currently still chosen (so any person that were previously chosen, and then later un-chosen, are no longer chosen)

"How many of you have been chosen?" Refers to the past action of being chosen, so how many of the group were previously chosen (irregardless if they were later un-chosen)

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks. It's very clear! With your explanation, may I ask what is the difference between "How many of you have been chosen?" and "How many of you were chosen?"
    – william007
    Jan 16, 2020 at 8:32
  • "...were chosen" is past tense of "...are chosen" so it's referring to the state of chosen. I should probably have mentioned that in normal talk, there is no real difference between these, after all in order to be something, you must have become it, and vice versa.
    – Michael Mortensen
    Jan 16, 2020 at 9:23

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .