The one who becomes a/the president is responsible for

[Aamir Tariq]

1. The one who becomes the president is responsible for all the state affairs.
   
2. The one who becomes a president is responsible for all the state affairs.
   
3. The one who becomes president is responsible for all the state affairs.
   

Should we use definite or indefinite articles or is it okay to construct this sentence without them?

Regards,
Aamir the Global Citizen

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

They're all grammatical. In the US, 1 and 3 would be capitalized. I don't know why. It seems pretentious.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

In which context do you want to use this sentence?

In fact, I modified it, actually I replaced general councilor with the president, general councilors are elected in our local body elections, since the people around here are not familiar with the local government set up in Pakistan so I had to replace it with president. all I wanted to know is the usage of articles with designations like this.

 

[GoesStation]

Sentence 3 is correct.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes. I think 1 and 2 are fine, too. As Piscean says, it depends on how it fits with the conversation.

 

[GoesStation]

Re-reading the sentences, I noticed that they're all unnatural. I'd write all affairs of state, not all the state affairs.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Tell me the natural one please .

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'd probably say something like:

- Whoever becomes the general councilor is responsible for . . . .
- Whoever is general councilor is responsible for . . . .
- The general councilor is responsible for . . . .
- General councilors are responsible for . . . .

 

[Aamir Tariq]

They are all fine - in some contexts. We still don't know the context in which Aamir Tariq wanted to use his sentence.

here is the context.
The one who is elected as president/a/the/president is responsible for....

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

That doesn't explain the context, Aamir. Can you give us more of the text to read?

 

[Aamir Tariq]

That doesn't explain the context, Aamir. Can you give us more of the text to read?

Elections are held in every democratic country, presidents, prime ministers, senators, members of the upper and lower houses are elected through general elections when people vote for them. Once they get elected they are responsible for whatever responsibility they have been elected for like those at the upper level of the government are responsible for legislation.

Those at the lower level like in our country "who are elected in the local body elections" are responsible for developmental work after the funds are released to them, like construction of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, the whole infrastructure in their area where they have been elected. So from the President to the bottom level, everybody is responsible for the activities and the responsibilities their designation demands from them. I hope the context is crystal clear now.