pay
part of speech
verb (pay, pays, paid, paying); noun (pay)
meaning for a pupil
1) To pay is to give money for something you buy or for work done. tree →
2) Pay is the money a person gets for work. tree →
3) To pay attention is to listen or look carefully. tree →
4) To pay a visit is to visit. tree →
sense in the lessons
to give cents for things bought: what is paid leaves the payer's money; «pays N for each of K» is N × K; change is the money given minus the cost; phrases: «pay for», «pay back», «pay attention», «pay a visit», «pay off»
examples
- How many cents does Tom pay? tree →
- Mia pays 5 cents for each apple. tree →
- Ben paid 20 cents and got 4 cents back. tree →
- Dad paid for our tickets. tree →
- I'll pay you back tomorrow. tree →
- Pay attention when the teacher is talking. tree →
- Hard work will pay off. tree →
- We paid a visit to Grandma on Sunday. tree →
note
Past: paid (not «payed»). What is paid leaves the payer's money: subtract. «pays N for each of K» is N × K. Trap: change given back is the paid money minus the cost. Safety: never share a bank card number or pay online without an adult.
In the corpora
- Overtime is working extra hours beyond the normal ones; sometimes it is paid at a higher rate, sometimes not paid at all.
- Some people go to work ill because they can't afford to lose the pay, which spreads germs to everyone else.
- At the other end of working life comes retirement, when people stop paid work for good.
- A promotion is a move up to a more senior job in the same organisation, usually with more responsibility and more pay.
- A pay rise is an increase in pay; some come each year, others have to be asked for.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pay» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.