In 1958, a self-described 42-year-old kid named Robert Paul Smith penned a little book titled How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself (public library), a book of advice on how to make one’s own fun, supplied with nothing more than pencils, blades of grass, handkerchiefs, rubber bands, and broken umbrellas. These are things kids can do by themselves. There are no kits to build these things. There are no classes to learn these things, no teachers to teach them, they don’t need any help from their mother or their father or anybody.
With a wink — perhaps inadvertent — to the existential value of philosophy, Smith writes:
I understand some people get worried about kids who spend a lot of time all alone, by themselves. I do a little worrying about that, but I worry about something else even more; about kids who don’t know how to spend any time all alone, by themselves. It’s something you’re going to be doing a whole lot of, no matter what, for the rest of your lives. And I think it’s a good thing to do; you get to know yourself, and I think that’s the most important thing in the whole world.
That’s a really great question because alone and by oneself are very similar in meaning, but there is one key difference. So, let’s have a look at these words, what they mean, and how you can use them in everyday English. We’ll also look at the idiom, to go it alone.
Here are the example sentences. To get the details of this English lesson, you need to listen to this podcast. And make a careful noteof his comments! 😉
I was home alone.
I was home by myself.
Jack lives alone in Brooklyn.
Jack lives by himself in Brooklyn.
Jenny will be by herself for the first time when she moves from her parent’s house to her new apartment.
Jenny will be living alone for the first time when she moves from her parent’s house to her new apartment.
I fixed my computer by myself.
I baked this cake by myself. Do you like it?
I heard that Tommy built a computer by himself. He’s so clever!
My friend Lauren is good at sewing, and she even made her wedding dress by herself.
None of my friends wanted to go to the concert so I’m going to go it alone.
When Jack’s wife told him that she didn’t want to go hiking in the mountains, he decided to go it alone.
If you don’t want to go on the safari with me, I’m going to go it alone.
Se você precisar de um médico gastroenterologista, ou de um ginecologista quando em férias em outro país, ou em um intercâmbio, você sabe como se referir à estes profissionais em inglês?
E sabe como pedir por um atendimento?
Iniciemos pelos médicos especialistas (clique sobre a palavra para ouvir a pronúncia):
Work is both a verb and a noun (uncountable); job is mostly used as a noun (countable):
I’m busy – I have a lot of work. (uncountable noun)
I have a lot of works.
I have two jobs – I’m a taxi driver, but I also work as a part-time fireman. (countable noun)
I’m a teacher at a nursery. It’s a great job – I love it. (countable noun)
We say go to work, start work, finish work:
I start work at 8 o’clock every morning.
I start my job at 8 o’clock every morning.
I go to work by bus.
I travel to my job by bus.
To describe what you do to earn money
Job is much more specific than work: your job is the name of the work that you do to earn money. It refers to your particular employment position, such as a teacher, accountant, builder, manager, etc.:
I like my job; I’m a teacher.
My job is a teacher.
My brother has found a good job as a sales manager at Vodafone.
I’m looking for a new job. = I’m looking for a new position.
I’m looking for new work.
What’s your job, Peter? = What do you do for a living?
We use work to say talk about the location or who our employer is, NOT to give a specific description or title:
John works for Microsoft.
Elizabeth works for a law firm.
My job is for a law firm.
Tony works in London.
My job is in London.
In these last examples, we do NOT know what the people’s responsibilities are; we only know where they work or who they work for. We DON’T know exactly what John’s job is, we DON’T know exactly what Elizabeth’s job is. And we only know that Tony works in London – we don’t know what he does there: we would have to ask him what his job is.
Other meanings
As a verb, work can have other meanings, e.g. how a machine works, meaning how it functions or if it is functioning properly:
The photocopier isn’t working- it’s broken.
Do you understand how a car works?
As a noun, a job can also mean a task, such as repairing something at home:
I have a few jobs to do this weekend – I have to paint the fence and fix the garage door.
OK, now it’s your turn to work – try the exercise below. Fill each gap with the correct form of either work or job:
1 How do you usually get to _____ ? By bus or by car?
2 Ask Paul to fix your radiator. He’s a plumber – it’s his _____ .
3 I used to _____ in Manchester but now I’m at a company near Leeds.
4 I like my _____ ; I’m a vet and I love working with animals.
5 I’ve had three different _____ in the last year – and I hated ALL of them!
6 What do you do for a living? What’s your _____ ?
7 I’m busy at the moment – I have a lot of _____ .
8 I’ll be pretty busy at the weekend – I have a lot of small _____ to do in the house and garden.
