GO, DO or PLAY with sport games and sports

Do, go or play

1He used to _____ jogging every day when he was at university.

2I love _____ a good game of chess from time to time.

3She _____ gymnastics for over five years now.

4This summer we _____ windsurfing every day on our vacation.

5He's quite the athlete. He _____ basketball, baseball and hockey, too.

6My wife _____ horse riding twice a week.

7Why don't we _____ a set of tennis?

8Some people think that ____aerobics four times a week is the best possible way of keeping fit.

9His idea of the perfect summer holiday is to rent a sailboat and _____ sailing between the islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

10He _____ athletics for his local track club.

1. ___  swimming

2.  ___   table-tennis

3.   ___  athletics

4.   ___   jogging

5.   ___   hiking

6.   ___      handball

7.   ___      judo

8.   ___      surfing

9.   ___      a crossword

10.   ___    a game

Do, go or play

1He used to _____ jogging every day when he was at university.

2I love _____ a good game of chess from time to time.

3She _____ gymnastics for over five years now.

4This summer we _____ windsurfing every day on our vacation.

5He's quite the athlete. He _____ basketball, baseball and hockey, too.

6My wife _____ horse riding twice a week.

7Why don't we _____ a set of tennis?

8Some people think that ____aerobics four times a week is the best possible way of keeping fit.

9His idea of the perfect summer holiday is to rent a sailboat and _____ sailing between the islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

10He _____ athletics for his local track club.

1. ___  swimming

2.  ___   table-tennis

3.   ___  athletics

4.   ___   jogging

5.   ___   hiking

6.   ___      handball

7.   ___      judo

8.   ___      surfing

9.   ___      a crossword

10.   ___    a game

GO, DO or PLAY with sport games and sports

There are three verbs that collocate with sports and other free time activities: go, doand 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:

Some exceptions to the rules:

• You use do with 4 activities that end in -ing: do boxing, do wrestling, do body-building and do weight-lifting 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.