pay

Compared meaning: give or put in time, energy or attention (verb).

比较义项：给予或投入（时间、精力、关注等）（动词）。

• give

  The most general and neutral of the three; can take almost any concrete or abstract object (an item, help, advice, permission) with no special collocation required.

  三者中最通用、最中性的词，几乎可以接任何具体或抽象的宾语（物品、帮助、建议、许可等），不需要特殊搭配。

  She gave me some useful advice before the interview.

  面试前她给了我一些有用的建议。

• pay 本词

  Restricted to fixed collocations such as pay attention, pay respect, pay tribute; cannot take a concrete object like a gift or document.

  只能用于固定搭配，如 pay attention（给予关注）、pay respect（表示敬意）、pay tribute（致敬），不能接礼物、文件等具体物品作宾语。

  The mayor paid tribute to the retiring firefighters at the ceremony.

  市长在仪式上向退休消防员致敬。

• devote

  Formal and effortful in tone; typically followed by time, energy or oneself to a goal or activity, implying sustained commitment rather than a single act.

  语气正式、强调付出努力，后面通常接时间、精力或“自己”加 to，指向某个目标或活动，强调持续的投入而非一次性的动作。

  She devoted her entire career to protecting endangered species.

  她把整个职业生涯都投入到保护濒危物种的事业中。

Give, pay and devote all mean giving something. Give is the most general, used with almost any object. Pay only appears in fixed phrases like pay attention or pay respect. Devote is formal, meaning to fully commit time or energy to a goal.

这三个词都含有“给予”或“投入”之意，中文学习者容易因为都可译作“给”而混淆，但搭配对象不同：give 最通用，几乎可接任何物品或抽象事物；pay 只用于 attention、respect、tribute 等固定搭配，表示“给予关注／敬意”；devote 语气更正式，强调把时间、精力全身心投入某个目标。此处不比较 pay 的“支付（金钱）”义，如 pay the electricity bill。