Accountability, Responsibility, Liability

2025-02-01

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  • This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Saeed in Iran about words that can express the idea of duty.
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  • Here is Saeed's question:
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  • Dear teacher,
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  • What is the difference between accountability, responsibility, and liability?
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  • Especially from the point of view of law.
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  • Sincerely, Saeed
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  • I'm happy to answer this question, Saeed.
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  • All three of the words you ask about express the idea of duty.
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  • A duty is what a person must do because it is right and just.
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  • Let's begin with the noun "responsibility." It is the most common word of the three, and we use it in everyday speech.
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  • However, when we talk about responsibility in legal terms, we are more likely to use the noun "duty."
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  • We often refer to a task when we use the word "responsibility" or its adjective form, "responsible."
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  • The following examples show this:
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  • It is a pilot's responsibility to safely fly the airplane.
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  • A pilot is responsible for safely flying the airplane.
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  • When we want to say that only one person or subject is responsible for something, we can use the adjective "sole," spelled s-o-l-e, or the adverb "solely," as in these examples:
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  • Any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the writer.
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  • The writer is solely responsible for what he or she posts on social media.
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  • To express the idea that someone should agree to having a duty, we can use the expression "take responsibility for," as in the following example:
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  • People must take responsibility for their own actions.
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  • We usually use the noun "accountability" to refer to possible penalties or bad results people may face if they do not do their duty.
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  • To do this, we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "accountable," as in this example:
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  • The problem was that no one in the office was held accountable for their actions.
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  • We often use the noun "accountability" when discussing organizations.
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  • For example, if a business has a "system of accountability," that means the company's leaders and workers likely face a penalty if they do not carry out their duties.
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  • "Liability" is the most specific term of the three nouns.
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  • If someone or some group has legal liability, that means they have a duty that can be judged in a court of law.
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  • We use the adjective form, "liable," to say that a person or group can face legal penalties because they were not as careful as they should have been.
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  • The following example shows this usage:
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  • The company was held liable for failure to warn about the danger of its product.
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  • Notice that we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "liable," just like we do before the adjective "accountable."
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  • There is also a common use of the noun "liability" in everyday speech that is not linked to legal issues.
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  • We can say that something or someone is "a liability" if they make bad results more likely.
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  • The following example shows this usage:
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  • That football player is getting old and is too slow.
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  • He has become a liability for the team.
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  • For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We want to hear from you!
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  • Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. And please let us know where you are from, too.
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  • And that's Ask a Teacher.
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  • I'm Andrew Smith.