1. ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION
LEARNING UNIT 2
DESCRIBING JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Monaliza Sarbinii-Zin
Office Tel. Number:

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES 2. observe Subject-Verb agreement and parallelism
At the end of this unit students should be able to:
1. understand English verbs
2. observe Subject-Verb agreement and parallelism
3. describe job responsibilities

4. Introduction to some useful terms
Job specifications or Job Specs
Job description
Skills
Qualities

5. Job Specifications include:
Qualifications
e.g. BSc(Computer Engineering)
Knowledge
e.g. Relational Databases, SQL and ORM technologies (JPA2, Hibernate)
Experience
e.g. 3-month internship at Silicon Valley
4. Abilities and skills
e.g. Setting up IT labs, Managing Group Tasks, Updating Computer Programmes, Designing Interactive Applications

6. Job Description A description of the nature of the job
It provides the tasks and responsibilities of a particular post
For example:

7. _ZEM%252C_&usg=__HpAfdsmcbyBoDyzrpgD8qACdAj8%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiNurXazN_KAhUCTI4KHaUqD_AQyjcIQg&ei=8gu0Vo35H4KYuQSl1byADw#imgrc=IWf5qrECeaoRZM%3A&usg=__HpAfdsmcbyBoDyzrpgD8qACdAj8%3D

8. Question Skills Abilities or expertise
Communication, problem-solving, computer skills are examples of skills that are very often sought by employers
What are the skills you have or wish to have? List them down.
Question

9. Qualities
Related to character and attitude such as confidence, honesty, self-motivated resourcefulness
When you write these into your CV they become ‘confident, honest, self-motivated and resourceful’. Why is that so?
QUESTION:
What are the qualities that you think are important to highlight about yourself? List them down.

10. Language Focus: VERBS Vivid verbs are very descriptive
Verbs are action words. They describe what we are able to do, like walk and talk
Vivid Verbs are very often used in job responsibilities in job advertisements
Study the verbs in these job ads
Vivid verbs are very descriptive

11. Post: Assistant Secretary
Collate items for agenda of monthly meetings of the management committee
Distribute agenda to committee members
Attend management committee meetings and take minutes
Circulate minutes of management committee meetings
Support the work the Secretary
taken from

12. Post: Software Engineer
Execute full lifecycle software development
Write well designed, testable, efficient code
Produce specifications and determine operational feasibility
Integrate software components into a fully functional software system
Develop software verification plans and quality assurance procedures
Document and maintain software functionality
Tailor and deploy software tools, processes and metrics
Serve as a subject matter expert
Comply with project plans and industry standards
taken from

13. Language Focus: VERBS cont.
Turn to page 6 of your textbook for a list of vivid verbs
You may add your own verbs to the list
Page 6

14. Subject-Verb agreement
I, we, they, my colleagues
He , She, it
Conduct ?
Play
Assist
Put
Run
Manage
Coordinate
Source
Scan
Plan

15. Parallel Structure of Verbs Turn to page 7
Example 1
Example 2
Draws blood sample
Editing university papers
Carries out testing
Organised seminars
Writes reports
Assists in layout and design
Parallel
???

16. Using Parallel Structure
What is a Parallel Structure? Simply put, it is ‘consistency’ in the tense you are using.
draws-carries-writes are parallel because they are all in the present tense
Editing- Organised and Assists
How should these be re-worded?
COMPARE these with

17. Let’s do some exercises
WORK IN PAIRS
Turn to page 3-5 (Job descriptions 1, 2 and 3)
Discuss your answers with your lecturer

18. EXERCISE 2 WORK IN GROUPS
List down the possible responsibilities, skills and qualities of either a (1) web page designer or (2) a flight attendant
You may also choose a post/occupation suitable to your degree

19. Enrichment Turn to page 11 You may focus on ONE job advertisement only
Discuss with your lecturer the following week
Keep all these homework in your Portfolio. These will assist you in the assessments.

20. Let’s recap What is a Verb? What are vivid verbs?
What is Subject-Verb Agreement?
What is a parallel structure?