Meaning & use
extra work
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
work that is added to what you normally do, often making your day longer or busier.
Grammar: No plural and no a/an: say extra work, not an extra work or extra works.
Patterns
- do extra work
- take on extra work
- extra work on something
I had to do extra work at the weekend to finish the report.
She took on extra work because the team was short of staff.
The teacher gave us extra work to help us prepare for the exam.
noununcountable
additional effort or tasks that are not part of a usual job or duty, often done to help someone.
Grammar: Still uncountable; often used with verbs like put in or create: put in extra work.
Patterns
- put in extra work
- create extra work for someone
- extra work for someone
Volunteers put in extra work to make the event a success.
Changing the system now would create extra work for everyone.
He does extra work for the community in his free time.
Common combinations
- do extra work
- I don't mind doing extra work if it helps the team.
- take on extra work
- Don't take on extra work when you're already stressed.
- put in extra work
- She put in extra work to learn the new software.
- create extra work
- Last-minute changes always create extra work for the staff.
- extra work on something
- We need some extra work on the introduction before we submit it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overtime
- Overtime means paid hours worked beyond your normal schedule; extra work can be unpaid and is not necessarily measured in hours.
- additional work
- Additional work is a more formal way to say extra work, common in business writing.
Commonly confused: extra work or overwork?
extra work vs overwork
Overwork means working too much and becoming tired or ill; extra work is simply more work than usual, which may be fine if you have time.
Practice
Which sentence uses extra work correctly?
Choose one answer.
Extra work is uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural: did extra work. An extra work and extra works are wrong because uncountable nouns cannot be counted that way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extra work”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.