Can you think of all the situations when to use the verb TO PAY? And with the correct preposition or not?
Here is a list with an example:
Pay for something or someone – I will pay for dinner, I will pay for you, How much did you pay for your bag?
Pay in – Yesterday I paid in £500 in cash into my bank account
Pay off – The employees were all paid off (given money) when the company closed
Pay out – The insurance company had to pay out a fortune to the investors when the Titanic sank
Pay in advance – When you buy an airline ticket you have to pay in advance for the ticket
Pay a bill – please can you pay the bill?
Pay a fine – I had to pay a fine for speeding
Pay in cash – I prefer to pay in cash
Pay by credit card – Nowadays people often pay by credit card
Pay attention – I like it when my students pay attention to me in class
Pay interest – I hate to pay interest to the bank
Pay a visit – My mother often pays me a visit on the weekend
Pay a call – The doctor will pay a call (visit) on you tomorrow at 10:00
Pay the price – I paid the price (suffer consequences) for running so fast at the beginning of the race I could not finish
Pay for it – Don’t do it! You are going to pay of it (suffer consequences) if you do!
Pay respects – You have to pay your respects and go and visit the coffin when someone dies to pay your respects too them
Pay a tribute – The man paid a tribute to the Queen by giving a speech about all of her charity work
Pay a compliment – My partner always pays me a compliment when I wear a new dress
Pay back – I borrowed £50 so I will pay you back next week
Pay back – She paid him back (revenge) by playing a joke on him
Pay off – I borrowed a loan to buy my TV and now I have paid it off completely
Pay in instalments – When I bought my car I paid £200 a month in instalments
Pay in full/upfront – I always like to pay in full/upfront (completely) for my things so I never have any debt
Pay someone to do something – I had to pay a man to drive a van when I moved house
Pay to be something – it pays (to be beneficial) to be nice/kind to people
Pay lip service to something – I hate it when some people pay lip service to (to do superficially) learning a language and do not do their homework
Pay an arm and a leg/ through the nose – I bought a new TV and it cost over a thousand euros; I paid through the nose! it cost an arm and a leg!
Pay over the odds – I hate it when I buy something and realise I paid over the odds (to pay a higher price than usual) for it
Pay-as-you-go – My daughter had a pay-as-you-go mobile phone so I have prepaid and put £20 on it
Pay your way – I always pay my way when I go out as I prefer to pay of my own expenses
Pay and display – Remember when you park your car in a public carpark it is often ‘pay an display’ so you must ‘pay’ for a parking ticket and ‘display’ in in your car
Please contact PINFIELD English Services if you have any questions.
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