Meaning & use
progress pay
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Meanings
noununcountablebusinessspecialist
Money paid to an employee or contractor in stages as work is completed, rather than in one final payment.
Grammar: Uncountable: no plural form. Use 'progress pay is' not 'progress pay are'.
Patterns
- progress pay for something
- receive progress pay
- be paid progress pay
The builder receives progress pay at the end of each phase of the project.
Under the new contract, progress pay is released only after an inspector approves the work.
The company uses progress pay to keep subcontractors motivated throughout long jobs.
noununcountablebusinessspecialist
A system or policy of paying workers in installments based on how much work they have finished.
Grammar: Also uncountable; often used with 'on' to describe the system: 'on progress pay'.
Patterns
- on progress pay
- a progress pay system
- introduce progress pay
Some construction firms put their laborers on progress pay to reduce the risk of unfinished work.
The union objected to the progress pay system because it made earnings unpredictable.
After the trial, the factory decided to keep progress pay for all its temporary staff.
Common combinations
- receive progress pay
- Freelancers often receive progress pay in three installments.
- progress pay schedule
- The progress pay schedule lists exactly when each payment is due.
- progress pay system
- Their progress pay system ties each payment to a completed milestone.
- be on progress pay
- All the electricians on this site are on progress pay.
Synonyms and how they differ
- milestone payment
- A single payment made when a specific goal is reached; progress pay usually refers to the whole arrangement of such payments.
- installment
- One of several parts of a larger sum; progress pay is the system or money tied to work completed, not just any installment.
Commonly confused: progress pay or performance pay? progress pay or progress payment?
progress pay vs performance pay
Performance pay is extra money for doing a job well, while progress pay is money for work completed so far.
progress pay vs progress payment
Very similar, but 'progress payment' often means one specific payment, while 'progress pay' refers to the ongoing arrangement.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'progress pay' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Progress pay' is uncountable, so it cannot take 'a' or a plural verb. Option 3 correctly uses it as an uncountable noun after 'received'. Options 1, 2, and 4 treat it as countable or plural, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “progress pay”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.