pay raise vs salary increase

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi Teachers

Would you please tell me which one of the following is more common?

  • I’ve decided to give you a salary increase/raise.
  • I’ve decided to increase your salary.
  • I’ve decided to give you a pay raise.

Thanks

2

The first one and last one should be ‘pay rise’ in the UK.
I’m not sure whether ‘raise’ would be accepted in either of those sentences in the US.

3

It would be normal in the US to say these, for example:

  • I’ve decided to increase your salary.
  • I’ve decided to give you a raise.
  • I’ve decided to give you a raise in pay.

In American English, we normally do not say ‘pay rise’.
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4

If Pay Rise = Pay Raise, the word ‘raise’ is to be treated as a noun, which might be what prevails in the US. RISE is intransitive and RAISE transitive in nature. However, to be clearer, we may say: I have decided to raise your pay.

5

HI natives

Is it OK in British and American versions to say “I have decided to raise your pay” as Lawrence suggested.

Thanks.

6

It’s okay, though ‘give you a pay rise’ would probably be more standard in the UK.

7

And in the US, it would be much more common to use ‘give you a raise’.

Commonly used expressions are quite clear to native speakers of English because they are used so often.

When T_H_Lawrence referred to ‘transitive’ and ‘intransitive’, he was referring to verbs. However, in the expressions ‘give you a pay rise’ and ‘give you a raise’, the words ‘rise’ and ‘raise’ are both clearly used as nouns – not as verbs.

Please also keep in mind that not everyone receives a salary. Many people are paid wages on an hourly basis. Saying ‘a (pay) raise’ could mean either an increase in someone’s fixed amount of pay (e.g. the fixed weekly/monthly/annual amount of pay received), OR it could refer to an increase in the amount of money a person earns per hour.

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8

I just meant whether ‘raise’ could be used as a noun in the BrE. I doubt, though it might be possible in the AmE.

9

I think “give you a raise” is used by some BrE speakers, though “give you a pay rise” would be more common.