The text describes an encounter between two men

[Barb23]

I have a question about a text I've come across. It's a narrative in the Present Simple tense. That's how it goes:

"The text describes an encounter between two men, captain Barnes and Dr. Norman Johnson. During the meeting, the ship they’re on experiences a temporary electricity failure. Then Barnes discloses some information about an object that has been recently discovered. Dr. Johnson, whose job mainly involves investigating a plane crash sites, isn’t initially surprised by the discovery. Later, however, his attitude changes, because he learns that the object is believed to be the wreck of a spacecraft which fell into the ocean centuries ago. Yet, as Barnes emphasizes, the spacecraft’s present location makes it difficult to precisely determine the date of the crash. At the end of the conversation, Dr. Johnson learns that he had been chosen by Barnes because of involvement in the ULF project."

Why is there the Past Perfect tense used in the last sentence? Is this correct? Should it not be "Dr. Jonhson learns that we was chosen by Barnes" (just Past Simple)?

 

[Barque]

Is this correct?

Yes.

Why is there the pPast pPerfect tense used in the last sentence?

It emphasises that the appointment by Barnes happened in the past, prior to this conversation. If you say "learns that he was chosen", it doesn't have the same clarity. In fact I might have wondered if it meant Johnson was chosen as a conversation partner. But "had been chosen" makes it clear he was chosen in the past, for a specific task related to the spacecraft.

Could you tell us where you saw this please?

 

[emsr2d2]

@Barb23 Please make sure you quote the source and author in post #1 in future. You were lucky this time that Barque chose to answer your question before you had provided the required information.

 

[Tarheel]

He investigated plane crash sites. (No article.)

It's an odd concept to me that surprise can be something that develops over time.

Anything that falls into the ocean from space would be moving at a high velocity and would sink to the bottom. It's hard to see how it could be recovered.

 

[Barb23]

I'm sorry for not having quoted the source. I've now attached a picture of the text.
It's a task that appeared in a high school exam in Poland. What I've found confusing is why the past perfect tense was used in a text written in the present simple tense. I have always been taught that the past perfect tense can be used with verbs in the past simple tense to indicate that something happened prior to an event in the past. However, almost the whole text is written in the present simple tense. The sequence of events is clear to me but it's the choice of the past perfect tense that confuses me.

 

[5jj]

I could make a case for the past simple, present perfect or past perfect in that sentence. I think it's a poor question.