[Vocabulary] to be a leader

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I read the following sentence in Cambridge.org.

He lacked the moral fiber to be leader. (source: fiber)

The dictionary changed the "leader" to "president". But my question has nothing to do with it. My question is why is "leader" instead of "a leader"? What's the difference?

 

[Tarheel]

Hi.

I read the following sentence in Cambridge.org.

He lacked the moral fiber to be leader. (source: fiber)

The dictionary changed [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] "leader" to "president". But my question has nothing to do with that. My question is why is it "leader" instead of "a leader"? What's the difference?

I'm not sure what you mean. I am fairly sure the dictionary didn't change anything. Anyhow, see below.

He lacked the moral character to be a leader. (A category.)

He lacked the moral character to be president. (A specific office.)

 

[Silverobama]

I wrote down the sentence "He lacked the moral character to be leader" eight years ago. At that time, the dictionary used "leader" but now it uses "president". My question is "What's the different between "to be a leader" and "to be leader"?

 

[Tarheel]

I wrote down the sentence "He lacked the moral character to be leader" eight years ago. At that time, the dictionary used "leader" but now it uses "president". My question is "What's the difference between "to be a leader" and "to be leader"?

We use a leader. We don't use the other one.

 

[Alexey86]

There is a discussion on the usage of articles with "leader" on ELU (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/158469/is-he-was-leader-right/158473#158473). According to its answers we can use all kinds of articles depending on context. In short, if "leader" means "(the) commander/chief/captain" the article can be omitted.

 

[Tarheel]

He is the leader of the group.

Would you omit the article there?

 

[Alexey86]

Would you omit the article there?

I would, since native speakers consider it to be correct.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's possible to use "leader" with no article, an indefinite article or a definite article. There is nothing wrong with the sentence you quoted from the dictionary.

 

[jutfrank]

My question is "What's the different between "to be a leader" and "to be leader"?

Tarheel has already pointed to an answer in post # 2, here:

He lacked the moral character to be a leader. (A category.)

He lacked the moral character to be leader. (A specific office.)

Note that I've taken the liberty of changing president to leader in the second sentence, to make the point clearer.