Do, play or go?

Do you play sport or do sport?
In British English, you can "do sport". In American English you can "play sports".

When other words related to sports are used, we may use other verbs.

"What sports do you do?"

"I play basketball".


Observe these pictures:

play golf

go cycling

do archery

There are (3) 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.

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:

• 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: Galven Kendall plays golf. We'll go golfing at the weekend. 

Try out these activities:

1. PLAY-DO-GO
2. HOW TO USE 'PLAY-DO-GO'

Thank you Inmaculada Domínguez!