Differences between Work and Job
In the English language, the words -work- and -job- refer to work, however they are words that have different applications, therefore, they cannot be used interchangeably. In this sense, in this article we will present the differences between -work- and -job- to know in detail the uses and applications of each of them.
work
The word -work- in the English language means -labor- when it refers to the tasks that the job or the place where you work consists of. It is an uncountable noun so it should not be used with numerals such as -a work- (one job), -two works- (two jobs), among others.
Among its uses we can find that, as a noun, -work- is used to refer to various types of work, employment, tasks or effort. In addition, -work- can also be a verb that means -to work-. Besides, when referring to the place of work, -work- is used without putting any article in front of it, that is, it does not have the, my, your, among others, in front of -work-. Here are some examples:
- She doesn’t have work, uncountable noun referring to employment.
- She works in a company, a verb that refers to the workplace.
- She works in a drugstore and in a library (she works in a pharmacy and in a library), a verb that refers to two jobs, it is worth noting that no numeral is placed in front of it.
- She works washing dishes, a verb that refers to tasks and tasks.
- She works very hard, a verb that refers to effort.
job
Basically, the word -job- in the English language means -work- when it refers to a specific type of paid work. It is a countable noun, so it can be accompanied by a numeral such as -a job- (one job), -two Jobs- (two jobs) and so on.
In addition to this, -job- is used to talk about work in the sense of job or employment. Also, it is used to refer to a specific and punctual job or project. Here are some examples:
- He finally got a new job last week, a countable noun referring to a job.
- He’s looking for a job, countable noun that refers to employment.
- The building of the house was a very big job, a countable noun that refers to a specific and punctual project.
- He had two jobs while he was studying at university (He had two jobs while he was studying at university), a countable noun and a numeral –Two- (two) is prefixed.
Taking into consideration the definitions and examples indicated above, it can be said that the differences between -work- and -job- are:
- -Work- is an uncountable noun, so it cannot be accompanied by a numeral, while -job- is a countable noun, so it can be accompanied by a numeral.
- -Work- can be a verb that refers to the action of working while -job- cannot be used as a verb, since it does not refer to an action but to a type of action, in this case, to a type of work.
