CONFUSING WORDS: JOB, WORK

WORK AND JOB AS NOUNS AND VERBS

 Work is both a verb and a noun (uncountable); job
is mostly used as a noun (countable):
i. I’m busy – I have a lot of work. (uncountable
noun)
ii. I have a lot of works.
iii. I have two jobs – I’m a taxi driver, but I also
work as a part-time fireman. (countable noun)
iv. I’m a teacher at a nursery. It’s a great job – I
love it (countable noun).
 We say go to work, start work, finish work:
i. I start work at 8 o’clock every morning.
ii. I start my job at 8 o’clock every morning.
iii. I go to work by bus.

iv. I travel to my job by bus.

TO DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO TO EARN
MONEY
 Job is much more specific than work: your job is the
name of the work that you do to earn money. It
refers to your particular employment position, such as
a teacher, accountant, builder, manager, etc.:
i. I like my job; I’m a teacher.
ii. My job is a teacher.
iii. My brother has found a good job as a sales manager
at Vodafone.
iv. I’m looking for a new job. =I’m looking for a new
position.
v. I’m looking for a new work.
vi. What’s your job, Peter? = What do you do for a
living?
 We use work to talk about the location or who our
employer is, NOT to give a specific description or
title:
i. John works for Microsoft.
ii. Elizabeth works for a law firm.
iii. My job is for a law firm.
iv. Tony works in London.
v. My job is in London.
 In these last examples, we do NOT know what the
people’s responsibilities are; we only know where
they work or who they work for. We DON’T know
exactly what John’s job is, we DON’T know exactly
what Elizabeth’s job is. And we only know that Tony
works in London – we don’t know what he does there:
we would have to ask him what his job is.
OTHER MEANINGS
 As a verb, work can have other meanings, e.g.
how a machine works, meaning how it functions
or if it is functioning properly:
i. The photocopier isn’t working – it’s broken.
ii. Do you understand how a car works?
 As a noun, a job can also mean a task, such as
repairing something at home:
i. I have a few jobs to do this weekend – I have
to paint the fence and fix the garage door.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!