Sport Verbs

Dear students, in here we will learn the correct use of the verbs play, go, and do, that are often used with sports.

We use the verbs play, do and go with sports and activities. Here is the information you need to know to use them correctly:

play

Play is used with ball sports or competitive games where we play against another person:

'How often do you play tennis?' - tennis is a ball sport.
'I play poker with my friends on Friday night.' - poker is a competitive game. We play to win.
'I don't like playing computer games.' - again, computer games are competitive so we use play.

do

Do is used for a recreational activity or a non-team sport that does not use a ball:

'I heard that you do karate.' - karate is a non-team activity.
'I do crossword puzzles in my free time.' - crossword puzzles are not competitive.

go

Go is used with activities that end -ing. We go somewhere to do something:

'I'm going fishing on Sunday.'
'Are you going skiing this winter?'
'She said she was going swimming.'