English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate » Unit 16: Work

Word List
  • administrator
  • ambassador
  • apply for
  • banker
  • banking
  • be laid off
  • be made redundant
  • be offered a job
  • be offered work
  • be promoted
  • carpenter
  • childminder
  • civil servant
  • designer
  • director
  • do for a living
  • economist
  • electrician
  • executive
  • find work
  • fire
  • firefighter
  • flexi-time
  • get work
  • job
  • judge
  • lecturer
  • make a living
  • maternity leave
  • on strike
  • paternity leave
  • physiotherapist
  • plumber
  • profession
  • public relations officer
  • publishing
  • receptionist
  • researcher
  • retirement
  • sack
  • scientist
  • shiftwork
  • sick leave
  • skilled worker
  • supervisor
  • take on
  • trade
  • union representative
  • unskilled worker
  • work
  • work nine-to-five
  • work shifts
  • workaholic
Exercises

16.1 ‣ Which of the job titles in A opposite would best describe the following?

  1. The person who represents the workers' interests in disputes with the management in a factory.
  2. A person who has a high position in a company and whose job it is to make important decisions. _____
  3. An important person in a company who sits on the board. _____
  4. A worker whose job requires no special training, for example, an office cleaner. _____
  5. A person generally in charge of the day-to-day organisation of a company/department. _____
  6. A person whose job it is to keep an eye on the day-to-day work of other workers. _____

16.2 ‣ Choose job or work to complete these sentences.

  1. I'll pay for the plumbing when it's finished.
  2. I'd like to apply for a _____ in your office.
  3. You should delegate more _____ to your personal assistant.
  4. Let's stop for a coffee on our way home from _____.
  5. A _____ in a museum wouldn't be as tiring as one in a restaurant.

16.3 ‣ Using the expressions in C opposite, say what you think has happened / is happening.

  1. I'm not working now; the baby's due in three weeks.
  2. He's enjoying life on a pension, although he's only 58.
    _____
  3. One week it's six-to-two, the next it's nights.
    _____
  4. They've made her General Manager as from next month!
    _____
  5. I was late so often, I lost my job.
    _____
  6. I get in at nine o'clock and go home at five.
    _____
  7. Your trouble is you are obsessed with work!
    _____

16.4 ‣ Which jobs do these people have? Would you call the following a trade, a profession or an unskilled job?

  2. _____
  3. _____
  4. _____
  5. _____
  6. _____

16.5 ‣ Fill in the collocations.

I’d love to 1 a job in journalism, but it’s not easy without qualifications. Since I have to earn a 2_____ somehow, I’ll have to get 3_____ wherever I can find it. I’ve been 4_____ some part-time work editing a new book, but I’m not sure I want to 5_____ it .

16.5 ‣

Over to you

Think of five people you know who work for a living. Can you name their jobs in English? If you can’t, look them up in a good bilingual dictionary.
Answer Key
A ‣ Jobs in a workplace

director [member of the board of a company]

executive /ɪɡˈzekjʊtɪv/ [important person who makes big decisions]

administrator [person who runs the office day-to-day]

skilled worker [trained to do specific tasks, e.g. building a computer]

unskilled worker [doing a job that needs no training]

receptionist [visitors must check in with them]

public relations officer [gives information about the company to the media]

union representative [looks after the staff's interests]

researcher [investigates and develops new products]

supervisor [makes sure workers are doing their job properly]

Common mistakes

The best way of getting to work (NOT job) depends on where you live.

Wish me luck in my new job (NOT work).

Job refers to a particular role or position. Jack's got a new job as a researcher.

Work refers to activities that you do. Jack's work is very demanding.

B ‣ Trades and professions

C ‣ Collocations of words connected with work

It's not easy to get/find work round these parts. I've been offered work / a job in Paris.

What d'you do for a living? I'm in publishing/banking, etc.

It's hard to make a living as a freelance writer. [ earn enough money to live comfortably]

She's not prepared to take on that job. [suggests 'having personal responsibility']

hours of workto do shiftwork or to work shifts [nights one week, days the next week]
to be on flexi-time [flexible working hours]
to work nine-to-five [regular day work]
not workingto go/be on strike [industrial dispute]
to get the sack [thrown out of your job]
to be fired (more formal than ‘get the sack’; often used in direct speech: ‘You’re fired!’)
to be made redundant [thrown out, no longer needed]
to be laid off (more informal than ‘made redundant’)
to be on / take maternity (woman) or paternity (man) leave [before/after the birth of a baby)
to be on / take sick leave [illness]
to take early retirement [retire at 55)
other useful expressionsto be a workaholic [Jove work too much]
to be promoted [get a higher position]
to apply for a job [fill in forms, etc.]

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