What's new

sport or sports ?

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
2,720
63
63
Dear native English speakers,
which form would be used?
(1a) What sport do you like?
(1b) What sports do you like?
(2a) What kind of sport do you like?
(2b) What kind of sports do you like?
(3a) Tom really likes sport.
(3b) Tom really likes sports.

When someone asks you "What sport(s) do you do?", how would you answer it?
Would "I do soccer"or "I enjoy soccer" instead of "I play soccer" be all right?
 
Both 1a and 1b can be used but have different context when saying it.
When your saying (1a) "What sport do you like?" Your asking me which specific sport do I like. So my answer would be "I like basketball"
When your saying (1b) "What sports do I like?" Your asking in plural, meaning more than one sport. So my answer would be. "I like basketball and baseball".
Both 2a and 2b are also acceptable but when adding kind of your asking me to to describe the sport/sports that I like. So if you asked me (2a) "What kind of sport do you like?" I would respond "I like a sport that has a lot of running in it."
3a. Would not be grammatically correct. When you say "Tom really likes sport." It wounds very off to us. When using sport without the s/(sports) your being more specific in meaning one sport. So the correct way would be "Tom really likes a sport". While that is grammatically correct and I understand it, it is quite a broad sentence and I would reply "What sport does Tom like?"
3b. Is grammatically correct and acceptable. The difference being from (3a), this way your being a little less vague and it covers a variety of sports. Since your covering multiple sports an "a" is not needed.

When asking me "What sports do you do?" You are asking me what sports (more than one) do I actually attempt to do. So my response would be "I play soccer and baseball". "I do soccer" is an acceptable response but less common. You could also tell someone "I enjoy soccer" as well. But answering that way gives a double meaning when answering. It says I am happy with soccer and play it as well.
 
Not sure if it's different elsewhere but in the UK you can say "Tom likes sport", with sport being an uncountable noun - sport in general, e.g "Tom likes watching sport on TV on a Saturday afternoon". Saying "Tom likes sports," without specifying which ones, would actually be stranger.
 
Thank you for the help, Michael2.
According to this page (sport | meaning of sport in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE there seems to be a difference in usage between the UK and the US.

GRAMMAR: Countable or uncountable?• In British English, you say: I like watching sport on TV. Sport is an uncountable noun in this meaning.• In American English, you say: I like watching sports on TV. Sports is a plural noun in this meaning.

It's often hard for me to judge that nouns are countable or uncountable even if there's no difference between the UK and the US. I'd be happy if you'd answer my another question, too.
 
Sport could be used as a noun but not in this context. At least here in the states. Sport used as a noun would be something like. "Tom hunts for sport." Indicating Tom hunts for enjoyment. Any other use of the term sport (non plural) is strange to us in the states and not advisable.

Saying "Tom likes sports" is very feasible and indicates Tom enjoys the events of sports regardless of what they are specifically.

Now if Tom wanted to be specific in what he likes or does not like Tom can respond with "I like sports, except baseball."
 
Not sure if it's different elsewhere but in the UK you can say "Tom likes sport", with sport being an uncountable noun - sport in general, e.g "Tom likes watching sport on TV on a Saturday afternoon". Saying "Tom likes sports," without specifying which ones, would actually be stranger.

Michael2, which sentences would be used in the UK?
(1a) What sport do you like?
(1b) What sports do you like?
(2a) What kind of sport do you like?
(2b) What kind of sports do you like?
 
They all sound alright, as to me sport is similar to fruit in that you can interchange between the idea of sport and the idea of specific sports. Also I think it is quite rare to actually ask these types of question - you are usually being specific depending on the content of the conversation, and also would volunteer the information as part of the conversation before being asked, so it can be hard to say what is "natural" outside of a conversation-practice lesson. You probably wouldn't need to ask what Qs, but specific Yes/no questions, like "Do you like football? do you want to come down and play on Saturday?" or "Are you into baseball? Do you want to go the Giants game tomorrow?"
 
Back
Top Bottom