Play - Go - Do

SPORTS and LEISURE ACTIVITIES

When speaking about sports and leisure activities, the verbs play, go and do are used as shown in the table
below.

Verb Explanation Sport/Activity

Badminton
Basketball
Sports with teams, rules and competitions or tournaments. Football
PLAY Two people can play a game of tennis. Golf
You need a team to play football. Rugby
Tennis ,
etc

Camping
The name of the activity is the gerund form of the verb (-ing).
Dancing
To camp → go camping
Hiking
GO We often go camping in the summer.
Horse-riding
To swim → go swimming
Sailing
Many children like to go swimming.
Swimming
etc.

Aerobics
Athletics
All other recreational activities. Gymnastics
DO All classes do gymnastics at school. Judo
Sophie does yoga with a group of friends. Karate
Yoga
etc.