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.
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”).