We're not going to go through the motions and pay tribute to one another, and then furl up the flags and go our separate ways.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Opens Tribal Nations Conference

This suggests that he is likely to go through the motions of consulting the Popular Committees that nominally run his country before announcing a decision.

ECONOMIST: Libya and the bombed airliners | The

American K-12 education has an infinite capacity to absorb money, even to go through the motions of doing what the donor wants--so long as the outside funding lasts.

FORBES: Bill Gates' New Education Plan

Perhaps the party leader has to go through the politically correct motions.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

The two of them shift from distrust to desire to disappointment in other words, they go through all the motions of love except the making of it.

NEWYORKER: Un Coeur en Hiver