I've been requested to rewrite the part in bold of the sentence below
The speaker praised Janice's contribution to the project.
And the answer is:
The speaker paid tribute to Janice's contribution to the project.
I've looked up the word tribute in Oxford dictionary. It says
an act, a statement or a gift that is intended to show your respect or admiration, especially for a dead person.
With some examples ( all of them are related to dead people)
At her funeral her oldest friend paid tribute to her life and work.
I wonder if pay tribute to is completely synonymous with praise or compliment. Is it ok if I say He paid tribute to her cooking?
Best Answer
'pay tribute' is absolutely not completely synonymous to 'praise' or 'compliment'.
Note act, statement or gift in the definition.
First, a praise or a compliment can be shallow, missing the point, false - they are just statements with apparent purpose of stating a positive opinion, but that apparent purpose is not always the factual purpose, nor always successful; also small, shallow compliments or praises are rarely enough to count them as "tribute". You don't pay tribute to a woman by saying "nice hair", nor do you pay tribute to an object of architecture by saying "This looks nice."
The tribute may be a longer statement that provides a praise. It can be a work of art, dedicated to the subject you're paying the tribute to. It can be a major endeavor undertaken in honor or memory of someone. I don't think this expression is ever used ironically.
A praise, and a compliment:
A tribute: