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Speaker 1: Have you ever tried talking about sports in English and

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suddenly you get mixed up with using play or do

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or go? Is it I play skiing, I do skiing,

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I go skiing, or maybe you've heard things like I

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play tennis, but also I go swimming, and then someone

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says I do yoga and you're thinking, wait, wait, wait,

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what's the rule here? Don't worry, You're not alone. This

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is one of the most common questions English learners have

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when it comes to talking about sports. In today's podcast

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English Lesson, we're going to look at how to use play,

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do and go when talking about sports and activities, and

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how you can sound more natural when you talk about them.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Alrighty, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here

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from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode oneenty twenty two, Play,

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Do and Go How to talk about sports naturally. Let's

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start with play. We use play with sports that involve

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a ball or things like a ball, like a hockey puck.

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You can say things like I play soccer or Jenny

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plays tennis, or we play badminton in the summer. We

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also use play for sports like baseball, volleyball, and even

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ice hockey, even though ice hockey uses a puck. A

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simple way to remember this is when a sport has

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a ball or something like a ball, use play. In fact,

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they start a baseball game by saying play ball. That's

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easy to remember. Next, let's look at go. We use

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go with sports and activities that end in ing. You

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can say things like I go swimming, or let's go skiing,

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or we go hiking on the weekend. The pattern is

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go plus a verb plus an ing. These sports and

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activities are usually things you can do alone, and they

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often describe movement or exercise. By the way the root

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word of these ing sports where it is a verb,

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you can also just use the verb itself, like Jenny

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swims twice a week, or let's hike up this hill.

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You can go swimming, or you can swim, go hiking,

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or hike. The meaning is the same. So what about

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do we use do? For activities that are not ball

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sports and those that don't use the ing or verb pattern,

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you can say things like I do yoga or my

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mom does pilates or the kids do karate. A simple

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way to think about it is use do for general activities,

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exercise or martial arts. So far it seems pretty simple, right.

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We use play for ball sports, use go for ing sports,

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or we just use the verb and we use do

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for other sports like yoga or karate. But now let's

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talk about something very important. Real English doesn't always follow

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simple rules. There are some common exceptions, and this is

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where things get interesting. For example, let's look at bowling.

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You might think it uses a ball, so I should

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say play bowling, but we don't say that. Instead, you

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can say I go bowling or just eyebowl, but not

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play bowling. English is strange, isn't it. Golf is also

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an exception to the rule. You can use play or

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go or just the verb hmm, I play golf, or

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I go golfing, or I golf on Sundays. All three

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are natural and native speakers use all three of them.

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And here's another one. What happens at the gym when

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you try to build your muscles well, you lift weights,

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or you stretch or you exercise. In other words, sometimes

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instead of play, do or go, we use a completely

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different verb. So let's recap. We use play for ball

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sports I play tennis. We use go for ig sports

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I go swimming, We use do for most other sports.

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I do yoga, and sometimes we just use the verb

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I swim. And remember there are some exceptions like I

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go bowling and I lift weights. And to be honest, instead,

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instead of trying to memorize the rules, it's better to

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learn these as patterns and get used to hearing them

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in real conversation also as patterns, and here's an interesting

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way to think about all of this. These patterns also

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reflect how people connect to sports in real life. Some

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people play sports like I play tennis or I play soccer.

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Some people don't really play, but they do activities for

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exercise like I do yoga or I do pilates. And

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other people enjoy activities where they go somewhere and do

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them like I go skiing, or I go hiking, or

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I go shopping. And of course some people don't play

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sports at all, they just watch them. Understanding these patterns

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doesn't just help your grammar, it helps you talk about

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your lifestyle in a more natural way. By the way,

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if you want to learn how to talk about watching

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professional sports, check out podcast, Episode oneenty twenty one. Here's

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your challenge this week. Try talking about your hobbies or

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activities in English. You can say things like I used

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to play tennis in high school, or I go jogging

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in the morning, or sometimes I do yoga after work.

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When you use new vocabulary like this, you make it

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your own and keep in mind the best way to

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remember English like this and any other word or phrase

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in English, is to take that word or phrase, write

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it in a sentence that's true for you or true

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in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Hey, thanks

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for listening, and remember learning another language is not easy,

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but it's not in and I'm here to help you

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on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast was brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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Happy English.