Collocations: do, play or go with sports and other activities
A typical mistake Spanish speakers make is using the verb practise for sports:
*I love practising sport. This should be: I love sport.
*I usually practise sport every evening. This should be: I usually do sport every evening.
However, in American English you can use the verb practise or practice (as it is spelt there) to mean "to train": The team is practicing for tomorrow's competition.
When other words related to sports are used, we may use other verbs:"What sports do you do?"
"I play tennis".
Observe these pictures:
 |  |  |
| Go skiing | Do karate | Play tennis |
There are three verbs that collocate with sports and other free time activities: go, do and play, but they are not interchangeable:
- Go is used with activities and sports that end in -ing. The verb go here implies that we go somewhere to practice this sport: go swimming.
- Do is used with recreational activities and with individual, non-team sports or sports in which a ball is not used, like martial arts, for example: do a crossword puzzle, do athletics, do karate.
- Play is generally used with team sports and those sports that need a ball or similar object (puck, disc, shuttlecock...). Also, those activities in which two people or teams compete against each other: play football, play poker, play chess.
In this table there is a list of sports and activities that collocate with these verbs:
| Go | Do | Play |
| riding | aerobics | badminton |
| jogging | gymnastics | table-tennis |
| hitch-hiking | taekwondo | football |
| fishing | judo | basketball |
| sailing | karate | chess |
| windsurfing | kung-fu | cricket |
| skiing | ballet | board games |
| snowboarding | excercise | snooker |
| swimming | yoga | hockey |
| dancing | athletics | baseball |
| skating | archery | rugby |
| cycling | a crossword puzzle | volleyball |
| running | tai chi | squash |
Some exceptions to the rules:
Now try doing these exercises:
- You use do with two activities that end in -ing: do boxing and do body-building, because they don't imply moving along as the other activities ending in -ing.
- Golf: if there is an idea of competition, you use the verb play. However, you can say go golfing if you do it for pleasure: Tiger Woods plays golf. We'll go golfing at the weekend.
 |
| Tiger Woods Image |
Now try doing these exercises:
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