Learn English – “Who takes the responsibility?” vs. “Who is responsible?”

phrase-choicesentence-meaning

While watching the news, I noticed a sentence in the headlines:

Coach of passenger train derails at Kanpur central in India, Who takes the responsibility?

This is the context.

Now my question is

  1. Who takes the responsibility?
  2. Who is responsible?
  3. Who is to blame?

Do the three sentences above carry the same meaning? Can they be used interchangeably?

Best Answer

In American English, I would expect the question to be "Who takes responsibility?" (without the "the").

This use of "responsibility" has three similar -- but slightly different -- meanings:

  1. "Who takes the blame?" (In other words, who admits that the derailment might not have happened if they had done something different? And admits that they should have done something different?)
  2. "Who promises to do something to make things right for the victims?" (Even if the train operator "takes the blame", he probably cannot afford to pay for a train and lots of people's medical bills. So often a company, or a rich person, or the government "takes responsibility".)
  3. "Who promises to make this sort of thing less likely to happen in the future?" (Even if the train operator "takes the blame", he probably cannot make sure that other train operators avoid the same "mistake". So often a company or the government "takes steps to improve safety practices".)

"Who is responsible?" can mean:

  1. "Who is to blame?" (Whether or not they accept the blame.)
  2. "Who should do something to make things right for the victims?" (Whether or not they promise to.)
  3. "Who has a chance to make this less likely to happen in the future?" (Whether or not they promise to try.)
  4. "If someone were sued in court, whom might the courts find legally responsible?" In other words, whom might the courts say is to blame? Or whom might the courts order to pay for the damage?
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