Past perfect continuous & Sports collocations — O/L English

What must I remember about Past perfect continuous & Sports collocations?

• Sports verb collocations follow strict categorical rules: 'play' for team ball sports (football, cricket, volleyball, netball, chess).
• 'Do' for individual non-ball competitive combat, martial arts, and gym exercises (do karate, do gymnastics, do athletics, do judo).
• 'Go' for sporting activities ending in -ing involving continuous movement (go swimming, go cycling, go hiking, go running).
• Prepositions of time and venue: 'at the grounds', 'in the stadium', 'on the court', 'at 3.30 p.m.', 'on Saturdays'.
• Commentary and sports report writing registers: exhilarating encounter, clinching the championship, displaying exceptional sportsmanship, decisive goal.

Test yourself (1 minute)

1. The sports collocation trap

   Writing 'play swimming' or 'do football' loses marks in vocabulary and gap-filling questions (Paper 1 Test 1 & Paper 2 Test 9).

2. Subject-verb agreement with team names

   A school or national sports team viewed as a unit takes a singular verb, but plural when referring to individual players ('The team is celebrating', 'The players are ready').

3. School sports meet report (Paper 2 Test 14)

   Follow standard report layout (Title, Byline, Opening date/venue summary, Highlights, Chief guest speech, Vote of thanks).

Practise Past perfect continuous & Sports collocations questions today

Source: NIE G.C.E. (O/L) English Language Syllabus (Grade 10, Unit 14)

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Grade 10 · Term 3