If one is saying “Mary was promoted” in the sense of getting a higher paid, more responsible job, what is the correct French verb? Avancer? Élever? Promouvoir? The dictionaries that I’ve consulted seem somewhat contradictory.
“Etre promu” ou “recevoir de l’avancement”. Marie a ete promue, ou Marie a reçu de l’avancement. The first one can be be followed by the new job/title (“Marie a ete promue chef de departement” ), not the second, so you might have to give more precisions (“J’ai reçu de l’avancement! Maintenant, je suis adjoint au sous-chef!”).
You can’t say only “avancer” (“Marie a ete avancee” would mean that someone pushed her somewhere).
“Etre eleve” is rare and only used for some official jobs or titles : “Le capitaine de vaisseau Dupont a ete eleve au rang et a l’appellation de contre-amiral” , “Mme Martin a ete elevee au rang de commandeur de la legion d’honneur” , “L’ eveque Dubois a ete eleve au titre de cardinal”…
A very clear explanation. *Mille remerciements * clairobscur.
A follow up question.
Is it *Marie a été promue * or Marie a été promûe?
My *Bescherelle * suggests that the past participle requires a circonflex on the u, but my dictionaries are a bit vague on the subject.
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Is it *Marie a été promue * or Marie a été promûe?
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It would be “promue”. When you feminize or pluralize the participle, it loses its accent. Same thing for other verbs like “devoir” (“dû” which becomes “due”, “dus”, “dues”).