Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumCollocations and Fixed Phrases

Which word correctly completes the fixed English collocation in the sentence below?

Answer:Although the corporation claims to prioritize employee welfare, critics argue that management merely pays 【lip】 service to environmental safety regulations.

Answer

lip
The expression 'pay lip service to' is a well-established fixed collocation in English meaning to approve of something verbally without backing it up with meaningful action.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the contextual meaning of the sentence.
The sentence describes expressing agreement or support in words only, without taking genuine action.
Understanding the context points directly to the fixed idiom 'pay lip service to'.
2
Determine the exact word required to complete the fixed collocation.
The noun 'lip' correctly combines with 'pay' and 'service'.
Substituting other speech-related nouns like 'mouth', 'tongue', or 'vocal' creates an ungrammatical or unnatural pairing in standard English.

Key Concept

Fixed Idiomatic Collocations
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Collocations and Fixed Phrases

More questions from this topic