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This week’s column topic is What was your favourite outdoor activity in school?, so I’d like to take a moment to talk about the verbs play, go, and do.
The verb play is typically used for competitive sports that involve two (or more) teams playing against each other (even if the teams only have one player). You can play soccer with a full team, but you can also play tennis one-on-one, or several players can play golf against one another.
I said “typically” above because there are exceptions. For example, boxing is a one-on-one sport, but as a combat sport, it is an exception. You cannot play boxing (see below for more information on combat sports). Of course, play is also used for games, including board games, computer games, console games, card games, and more.
The verb go is used with -ing activities, which include many outdoor activities. You can go skating, go hiking, go cycling, go camping, etc. However, go isn’t even necessary, actually, because these words can be used as verbs on their own. You can say “I went camping in the mountains” or simply “I camped in the mountains.” You can say “Let’s go swimming after lunch” or simply “Let’s swim after lunch.”
Interestingly, the version with go is probably more common and natural sounding in most cases (even though it’s longer!). And remember that even if you’re talking about a sport or game, you should use go if it’s an -ing sport or game. For example, you can go bowling but you cannot play bowling.
Finally, the verb do is used with combat sports, martial arts, and activities that involve several different kinds of movements, exercises, or events. For instance, you can do judo, do karate, do kickboxing, etc.(the verb practice is also appropriate here). You can also do yoga, do aerobics, do pilates, etc. Keep an eye out for activities that have other possible verbs as well. For example, you can do a marathon or run a marathon.
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