the kloe theme.

Duties and Responsibilities

Business English
cakap.com
 Learning Objectives

After this lesson, students will be able to:

• define what duty/obligation and responsibility mean.

• use duty and responsibility related vocabulary in the correct context.
• discuss the roles of certain job titles at work.
• select relevant information from the provided recording.
• recall the use of should and shouldn’t.
• apply the learned grammatical feature (past perfect in passive form) correctly.

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 Warm Up
Guess The Jobs
Pay attention to the following duties and responsibilities.
Which jobs are being talked about?

A ________ is responsible for creating and publishing content on all social media
platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to grow an audience, build brand
awareness, and ultimately, boost sales.

__________ is in charge of arranging interviews, coordinating hiring efforts, and onboarding

new employees. They also handle employee relations, payroll, benefits, and training.

3 Business English – Duties and Responsibilities www.cakap.com

 Warm Up
Guess The Jobs
Pay attention to the following duties and responsibilities.
Which jobs are being talked about?

A social media specialist is responsible for creating and

publishing content on all social media platforms, including
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to grow an audience, build
brand awareness, and ultimately, boost sales.

How do you find

Human resource officer is in charge of arranging interviews,
the two jobs on
coordinating hiring efforts, and onboarding new employees. They also
the left?
handle employee relations, payroll, benefits, and training.

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 Duty vs Responsibility
Define what obligation/duty and responsibility mean.
Pair each word with the correct option provided on the right.

• something you must do

because of legal
requirement.
• something that you are
expected to do.

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 Duty vs Responsibility
Define what obligation/duty and responsibility mean.
Pair each word with the correct option provided on the right. Name some examples.

Describe your duties and responsibilities at work!

Duty

Responsibility

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 Vocabulary Build Up
Complete the following cloze sentences with the correct option provided on the right

1. I’m ___________ for cash flow/credit control/managing projects..

2. I’m in ____________ of developing the company’s long-term strategy. a. charge

3. My ____________ include recruiting new employees and organising training for b. enjoy

company staff. c. find

4. It’s also my ___________ to improve the company’s working conditions. d. job
5. On the whole, I __________ my work. e. most
6. What I like ____________ about my work is the responsibility, the challenge and of f. part
course the salary. g. quite
7. I ____________ my work very interesting. h. responsibilities
8. One task I don’t ____________ like is chasing money from late payers. i. responsible
9. The ____________ I don’t really like is the long hours.
j. What
10. _________ I don’t like so much is when I have to deal with a difficult employee.

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 Vocabulary Build Up: Answer Key
Complete the following cloze sentences with the correct option provided on the right.
Check the answers below.
1. I’m responsible for cash flow/credit control/managing projects..
2. I’m in charge of developing the company’s long-term strategy. a. charge

3. My responsibilities include recruiting new employees and organising training b. enjoy

for company staff. c. find

4. It’s also my job to improve the company’s working conditions. d. job
5. On the whole, I enjoy my work. e. most
6. What I like most about my work is the responsibility, the challenge and of f. part
course the salary. g. quite
7. I find my work very interesting. h. responsibilities
8. One task I don’t quite like is chasing money from late payers. i. responsible
9. The part I don’t really like is the long hours.
j. What
10. What I don’t like so much is when I have to deal with a difficult employee.

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 Discussion Topics
Roles at work
Observe these roles and give examples of their duties and responsibilities!

What are the duties of

the people on the left?

CEO Software Content

engineer Writer

Accounting UI/UX
Officer Designer
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Business English – Duties and Responsibilities www.cakap.com
 Listening
Listening 26.1
Describing your job
Now listen to three employees of an IT distribution company, Xcel Systems. Complete their profiles.

Audio 1 Audio 2 Audio 3

Click for Click for Click for
audio access audio access audio access

Questions Anthony Smart Daniel Goldman Susan Clarke

o Position: ? Managing director ?
o Responsibilities: ? ? ?
o Enjoys: ? ? ?
o Doesn’t enjoy: ? ? ?

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 Listening: Answer Key
Listening 26.1
Describing your job
Now listen to three employees of an IT distribution company, Xcel Systems. Complete their profiles.

Audio 1 Audio 2 Audio 3

Click for Click for Click for
audio access audio access audio access

Questions Anthony Smart Daniel Goldman Susan Clarke

o Position: Chief accountant
Cash flow, preparing financial
o Responsibilities:
statements, credit control
Working with numbers, company
o Enjoys:
culture, people, work environment
Chasing money from late
o Doesn’t enjoy: payers
Managing director
Day-to-day running of the business,
managing projects, organising work,
dealing with suppliers
And important customers, developing
the company’s long-term strategy
Responsibility, challenge, salary,
motivating/inspiring people
Long hours, stress
HR manager
Recruiting, organising
training, improving company
working conditions
Working with people, seeing
employees improve and
develop their skills
Dealing with difficult
employees

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 Stating Obligations
How does one state his/her obligations? Study the following phrases!

Expressing Obligation
o When it is necessary or obligatory to do something, you express
obligation.
Keep in mind:
Obligation in the present:
✓ I have to finish my work before this evening. 1. The difference between “have
✓ I have got to learn English if I want to live in the USA. to" and "must" is that "have to"
✓ I must see the doctor soon because I don't feel well. indicates that someone else
✓ It is obligatory that I stop when the traffic light turns red. has imposed conditions on us.
✓ It is necessary that I take a taxi. I'm late. 2. The simple past form of "must"
is "had to".
Obligation in the past: 3. The future form of
✓I had to work extra hours to pay my bills. "must" is "will have to".
Obligation in the future:
✓I will have to borrow money.

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 Duties and Responsibilities at Work
People and their jobs
Take a look at the following 3 people and the duties they do at work

Person A Person B Person C

I’m the head of I work in the I run the Singapore
the IT Sales
department. I look Department, office. I'm Questions!
after the and I deal with responsible for all
computers, and enquiries from 1. Who has the most responsible job? Why?
customers the East Asian
I’m also in charge 2. Why is A’s job important?
of maintaining the branches
software. 3. What do you think B does in his job?

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 Grammar Brush-Up

Let’s review your knowledge on the use of

should and shouldn’t

Give the opposite advice by using should, shouldn't or I don't think.

1. I think he should get a salary increase.

2. I think we should launch the new product now.
3. She shouldn't take customers to expensive restaurants.
4. We should take every customer complaint seriously.
5. I think staff should fly economy on every trip. Remember!
*shouldn’t is a contraction. It’s
the short form of “should” and
“not”.

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 Grammar Brush-Up: Answer Key

Let’s review your knowledge on the use of

should and shouldn’t

Give the opposite advice by using should, shouldn't or I don't think.

1. I think he should get a salary increase.

2. I think we should launch the new product now.
3. She shouldn't take customers to expensive restaurants.
4. We should take every customer complaint seriously.
5. I think staff should fly economy on every trip.

1. I don't think he should get a salary increase.

2. I don't think we should launch the new product now
3. She should take customers to expensive restaurants.
4. We shouldn't take every customer complaint seriously.
5. I don't think staff should fly economy on every trip. / I think staff
shouldn't fly economy on every trip.

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 Grammar Bits
Let’s study the structure of passive voice in past perfect tense

Active voice

Subject Verb Object

The management had planned an annual budget meeting

Passive voice

An annual budget meeting had been planned (by the management)

The object becomes the subject Formula: The subject becomes the doer (the person/people
had + been + verb in past participle form who do/commit the action). The doer is optional.

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 Grammar Exercise
Complete the following cloze sentences with the correct past perfect form in passive
voice

1. The gate _________ (lock) when Ghea arrived at home.

2. ______ the food already ______ (plate) when the guests came?

3. The house _________ (break) into when we got home last night.

4. Apparently my chocolate _______ (eat) when I opened the fridge.

5. Julie was very pleased because her car _________ (clean).

6. Breakfast ________ (prepare) when he woke up.

7. Ten pages ________ (write) as her computer crashed.

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 Grammar: Answer Key
Complete the following cloze sentences with the correct past perfect form in passive
voice. Check the answers below.

1. The gate had been locked (lock) when Ghea arrived at home.

2. Had the food already been plated (plate) when the guests came?

3. The house had been broken (break) into when we got home last night.

4. Apparently my chocolate had been eaten (eat) when I opened the fridge.

5. Julie was very pleased because her car had been cleaned (clean).

6. Breakfast had been prepared (prepare) when he woke up.

7. Ten pages had been written (write) as her computer crashed.

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 Language Focus
Study the following useful phrases of describing duties and responsibilities

❖ (be) responsible for + noun

or
❖ (be) in charge of + gerund (-ing) form

Examples:
Examples:
• He’s responsible for the sales conference.
• I’m in charge of the book department
• He’s responsible for organising the sales
• I’m in charge of ordering books.
conference.

How do we use the word “work”?

You look after: You deal with:
• I work for Toyota work for + company
• children • customers
• I work as a secretary work as + job
• equipment • enquiries
• I work in the IT department work in +
• machinery • problems
department

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 Discussion Points
Pay attention to the following discussion topics and speak up your mind

▪ What do you do for a living?

▪ What company do you work for?
▪ How long have you been working at that company?
▪ How long have you been doing what you do?
▪ What did you do before that?
▪ What does your company do?
▪ When was the company founded?
▪ Has the company been around for a while?

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 Pronunciation Drill
Practice speaking these following sentences.

1A. May the force be with you.

1B. May the fourth be with you.
2A. It's time to collect your vote.
2B. It's time to correct your boat.
3A. It's a good bet when it's light.
3B. It's a good vet when it's right.
4A. When pigs fly, they turn on the van.
4B. When pigs fry, they turn on the fan.

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 Learning Reflection
Think of today’s learning session and answer the following questions

What new knowledge have you obtained today?

(Could be a new concept(s) or new vocabulary items)
Own your
learning! What do you think you can do with what you have learnt today?

What’s your favorite part of today’s learning topic?

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