Accountability, Responsibility, Liability
2025-02-01
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1This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Saeed in Iran about words that can express the idea of duty.
2Here is Saeed's question:
3Dear teacher,
4What is the difference between accountability, responsibility, and liability?
5Especially from the point of view of law.
6Sincerely, Saeed
7I'm happy to answer this question, Saeed.
8All three of the words you ask about express the idea of duty.
9A duty is what a person must do because it is right and just.
10Let's begin with the noun "responsibility." It is the most common word of the three, and we use it in everyday speech.
11However, when we talk about responsibility in legal terms, we are more likely to use the noun "duty."
12We often refer to a task when we use the word "responsibility" or its adjective form, "responsible."
13The following examples show this:
14It is a pilot's responsibility to safely fly the airplane.
15A pilot is responsible for safely flying the airplane.
16When 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:
17Any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the writer.
18The writer is solely responsible for what he or she posts on social media.
19To express the idea that someone should agree to having a duty, we can use the expression "take responsibility for," as in the following example:
20People must take responsibility for their own actions.
21We usually use the noun "accountability" to refer to possible penalties or bad results people may face if they do not do their duty.
22To do this, we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "accountable," as in this example:
23The problem was that no one in the office was held accountable for their actions.
24We often use the noun "accountability" when discussing organizations.
25For 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.
26"Liability" is the most specific term of the three nouns.
27If someone or some group has legal liability, that means they have a duty that can be judged in a court of law.
28We 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.
29The following example shows this usage:
30The company was held liable for failure to warn about the danger of its product.
31Notice that we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "liable," just like we do before the adjective "accountable."
32There is also a common use of the noun "liability" in everyday speech that is not linked to legal issues.
33We can say that something or someone is "a liability" if they make bad results more likely.
34The following example shows this usage:
35That football player is getting old and is too slow.
36He has become a liability for the team.
37For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We want to hear from you!
38Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. And please let us know where you are from, too.
39And that's Ask a Teacher.
40I'm Andrew Smith.
1This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Saeed in Iran about words that can express the idea of duty. 2Here is Saeed's question: 3Dear teacher, 4What is the difference between accountability, responsibility, and liability? 5Especially from the point of view of law. 6Sincerely, Saeed 7I'm happy to answer this question, Saeed. 8All three of the words you ask about express the idea of duty. A duty is what a person must do because it is right and just. 9Let's begin with the noun "responsibility." It is the most common word of the three, and we use it in everyday speech. However, when we talk about responsibility in legal terms, we are more likely to use the noun "duty." 10We often refer to a task when we use the word "responsibility" or its adjective form, "responsible." The following examples show this: 11It is a pilot's responsibility to safely fly the airplane. 12A pilot is responsible for safely flying the airplane. 13When 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: 14Any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the writer. 15The writer is solely responsible for what he or she posts on social media. 16To express the idea that someone should agree to having a duty, we can use the expression "take responsibility for," as in the following example: 17People must take responsibility for their own actions. 18Accountability and liability 19We usually use the noun "accountability" to refer to possible penalties or bad results people may face if they do not do their duty. To do this, we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "accountable," as in this example: 20The problem was that no one in the office was held accountable for their actions. 21We often use the noun "accountability" when discussing organizations. 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. 22"Liability" is the most specific term of the three nouns. If someone or some group has legal liability, that means they have a duty that can be judged in a court of law. 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. The following example shows this usage: 23The company was held liable for failure to warn about the danger of its product. 24Notice that we use the verb "hold" before the adjective "liable," just like we do before the adjective "accountable." 25There is also a common use of the noun "liability" in everyday speech that is not linked to legal issues. We can say that something or someone is "a liability" if they make bad results more likely. The following example shows this usage: 26That football player is getting old and is too slow. He has become a liability for the team. 27For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We want to hear from you! Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. And please let us know where you are from, too. 28And that's Ask a Teacher. 29I'm Andrew Smith. 30Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 31_______________________________________________________ 32Words in This Story 33task -n. a piece of work or a job that needs to be done 34penalty -n. anything that has the effect of punishing a person or group for what they have or have not done