Meaning & use
pay attention
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To focus your eyes, ears or mind on someone or something so that you notice and understand it.
Grammar: Pay changes with tense (pays, paid, paying) while attention stays the same; it is followed by to: pay attention to the teacher.
Patterns
- pay attention to someone
- pay attention to something
- pay attention to what someone says
Please pay attention to the safety instructions before the flight.
She paid attention in class and passed the exam easily.
If you had paid attention, you would have heard the announcement.
phraseidiom
To give something careful thought or consider it important enough to act on.
Grammar: Often used in advice or warnings, with to plus a noun: pay attention to details.
Patterns
- pay attention to detail
- pay attention to warning signs
- pay no attention to someone
Good editors pay attention to the smallest details.
Doctors urged people to pay attention to early warning signs.
He paid no attention to the criticism and carried on.
Word forms
| third person singular | pays attention |
|---|---|
| past tense | paid attention |
| past participle | paid attention |
| -ing form | paying attention |
Common combinations
- pay close attention
- Pay close attention to the second step.
- pay attention to detail
- Accountants must pay attention to detail.
- pay no attention
- Pay no attention to the noise outside.
- pay little attention
- Voters paid little attention to the local election.
- not pay attention
- If you don't pay attention, you will miss the turn.
Synonyms and how they differ
- concentrate
- Concentrate stresses sustained mental effort on one thing, while pay attention is more about noticing and listening.
- listen
- Listen is only about hearing, while pay attention can include watching and thinking too.
- heed
- Heed is formal and means to follow a warning or advice, while pay attention is neutral and everyday.
- focus
- Focus suggests narrowing your effort on one target, whereas pay attention can be a more casual instruction.
Opposites
Word family
- attention noun
- the act of focusing your mind on something
- attentive adjective
- paying close attention
- attentively adverb
- in a way that shows careful focus
- inattentive adjective
- not paying attention
Commonly confused: pay attention or attend?
pay attention vs attend
Attend usually means to be present at an event or to go to a place, as in attend a meeting, which is different from paying attention to what is said there.
Practice
You should ____ the road signs when you are driving in a new city.
Choose one answer.
Pay attention to is the correct fixed phrase with the preposition to. The other options use wrong verbs or prepositions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pay attention”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.