What's the meaning of:
It has been written in bible
To me, it sounds like "It was once written but it doesn't exist there anymore."
It should've been
It is written in bible
because written is a state of being verb, like drunk, etc.
Learn English – “it has been written” vs “it is written”
passive-voice
Related Solutions
A simple present passive has the same range of uses as a simple present active:
To express enduring truths, as in your second example. History is written by the victors means, approximately, It is always the victors who write the Received History of a conflict.
To describe repeated or habitual actions over time. A letter is written every 30 seconds to the White House.
To report events as current 'hot news', as in a sportscast or photo caption, or by convention in chronicles and plot synopses. In Chapter IV a letter is written, which will have unfortunate consequences in Chapter XII.
With future reference in a schedule or timetable. On Monday a letter is written. On Wednesday the Board receives it. On Friday the Board convenes to discuss it.
With contingent future reference in subordinate clauses: If a letter is written I will answer it. I'm doing it now, before a letter is written forbidding it. Keep any letter which is written you on this subject. Let me know when a letter is written. It is essential that a letter is written.
But without further context it is impossible to say which of these uses obtains in any particular instance.
Actually, depending on context, all three answers are potentially valid. So this is another of those "Guess which answer the teacher is thinking is correct" questions rather than a "Guess the answer that is correct" question. If you have not been told who Charles Dickens is and when he wrote "Great Expectations", then your knowledge of English literature is fairly important to getting it right.
Since the novel was written in 1860 and Dickens is dead, logic suggests that the teacher expects you to use the past tense (as is most common), to talk about a past event:
"Great Expectations" was written by Charles Dickens (in 1860).
Otherwise, if it is a new novel and Dickens is still alive, it's not uncommon for English speakers to use the present tense to talk about its creation, especially if the author is present. For example, imagine a radio show on which they discuss contemporary literature
Hello and welcome to our show Literature and You. Today we review a particularly interesting new work, "Great Expectations", which is written by renowned author Charles Dickens, and who is today's guest on our show. Welcome Mr. Dickens!
To complicate this, English speakers sometimes use the present tense to focus on the current existence of the novel itself, rather than the action of the writer. In this case "written by Charles Dickens" can be interpreted as a participle phrase:
"Great Expectations", the classic novel, is often included in grade school required reading lists. It is written by Charles Dickens.
While this is not common it should not be discounted, since this is how English speakers actually talk, not how they should talk.
Lastly, suppose this sentence is part of a kind of stream-of-consciousness historical narrative:
The year is 1859. Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" is causing a furor in the halls of Cambridge. "Great Expectations" has been written by Charles Dickens (but not yet published), etc.
Again, this is not common, but you should be aware that it's possible in the right context.
In any case, it's a poorly-written question -- but that's not unusual in many English classes, even when the teacher is a native speaker. Yes, (c) is the obvious answer, but a good test question should have one and only one possible answer.
Best Answer
There are several errors in your line of thinking:
1) written is not really a state of being like drunk. We expect drunk people to sober up, but we don't expect written words to disappear.
2) to convey, "It was once written but it doesn't exist there anymore," I would say:
3) This isn't a matter of one version is right and one version is wrong; both versions could be considered grammatically correct (although I would agree with you that, if the guidance can be found in the Bible, is is probably a better way to say it than has been).
4) We would typically use an article in this context: