2
  • I'd be happy to see Jim as manager.
  • That might be a little confusing because they know me as manager.
  • We will work with him on the issue, in his capacity as manager of the company.
  • But as manager, you can hire your own staff.

Why isn't any article added after "as" and before the noun? in comparison with below examples:

  • As a police officer, violence is part of my everyday life.
  • I'm not here as a friend.

Is there any specific grammar rule for such phrases?

gotube
  • 32,728
  • 6
  • 46
  • 110
WASAP
  • 21
  • 1
  • There are several similar questions both at this site (e.g., https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/27182/is-there-a-missing-definite-article-before-caliph-in-the-groups-leader-xyz-a) and on ELU (e.g., https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/305487/indefinite-article-and-preposition-as). – MarcInManhattan Jan 05 '22 at 00:51

1 Answers1

0

This may or may not be the precise rule, but I notice that in all of the top examples with no article, and in some more I've thought up, the article "the" could be used without changing the meaning:

  • I'd be happy to see Jim as the manager.
  • That might be a little confusing because they know me as the manager.
  • With this class, I think Sue would do better as (the) teacher than as (the) teacher's assistant.

In your two cases where zero article is clearly wrong, "the" would also be wrong:

  • As the police officer, violence is part of my everyday life.
  • I'm not here as the friend.
gotube
  • 32,728
  • 6
  • 46
  • 110
  • 2
    It is an oddity of _as_ that when it precedes an office or role, it does not need an article: _as president_, _as executor_, _as commander in chief_. It's not clear to me what the limits of this construction are: it usually requires that the role is unique, at least in the context. So if you're talking about somebody who is a teacher, you can't normally say _as teacher_; but if you're talking about the relationship between the teacher and their pupil or pupils you then could say _as teacher_, meaning "as the one who is the teacher in this relationship". – Colin Fine Jan 04 '22 at 23:53