Accountability, Responsibility, Liability - January 29, 2025

معنی واژه با لمس

1. 0:00This week on Ask a Teacher,
2. 0:04we answer a question from Saeed in Iran about words that can express the idea of duty.
3. 0:14Here is Saeed's question.
4. 0:17Dear Teacher, What is the difference between accountability,
5. 0:23responsibility, and liability, especially from the point of view of law.
6. 0:31Sincerely, Said.
7. 0:34I'm happy to answer this question, Said.
8. 0:38All three of the words you ask about express the idea of duty.
9. 0:45A duty is what a person must do because it is right and just.
10. 0:53Let's begin with the noun responsibility.
11. 0:57It is the most common word of the three, and we use it in everyday speech.
12. 1:05However, when we talk about responsibility in legal terms,
13. 1:11we are more likely to use the noun duty.
14. 1:16We often refer to a task when we use the word responsibility or its adjective form, responsible.
15. 1:26The following examples show this.
16. 1:31It is a pilot's responsibility to safely fly the airplane.
17. 1:37A pilot is responsible for safely flying the airplane.
18. 1:42When we want to say that only one person or subject is responsible for something,
19. 1:50we can use the adjective soul, spelled S-O-L-E,
20. 1:57or the adverb solely, as in these examples.
21. 2:03Any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the writer.
22. 2:08The writer is solely responsible for what he or she posts on social media.
23. 2:13To express the idea that someone should agree to having a duty,
24. 2:20we can use the expression take responsibility for, as in the following example.
25. 2:29People must take responsibility for their own actions.
26. 2:33We usually use the noun accountability to refer to possible penalties
27. 2:40or bad results people may face if they do not do their duty.
28. 2:48To do this, we use the verb hold before the adjective accountable, as in this example.
29. 2:57The problem was that no one in the office was held accountable for their actions.
30. 3:05We often use the noun accountability when discussing organizations.
31. 3:13For example, if a business has a system of accountability,
32. 3:19that means the company's leaders and workers likely face a penalty if
33. 3:26they do not carry out their duties.
34. 3:30Liability is the most specific term of the three nouns.
35. 3:37If someone or some group has legal liability,
36. 3:42that means they have a duty that can be judged in a court of law.
37. 3:49We use the adjective form liable to say that a person
38. 3:54or group can face legal penalties because they were not as careful as they should have been.
39. 4:03The following example shows this usage.
40. 4:08The company was held liable for failure to warn about the danger of its product.
41. 4:14Notice that we use the verb hold before the adjective liable,
42. 4:21just like we do before the adjective accountable.
43. 4:26There is also a common use of the noun liability in everyday speech that is not linked
44. 4:34to legal issues.
45. 4:37We can say that something or someone is a liability if they make bad results more likely.
46. 4:47The following example shows this usage.
47. 4:51That football player is getting old and is too slow.
48. 4:56He has become a liability for the team.
49. 5:00For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
50. 5:07We want to hear from you.
51. 5:09Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews .com.
52. 5:15And, please, let us know where you are from, too.
53. 5:20And that's Ask a Teacher.
54. 5:23I'm Andrew Smith.