Do native speakers stick to the rule of inserting the definite article between 'play' and 'a musical instrument' while leaving the 'the' out when saying play basketball, football, so on and so forth?
Do native speakers stick to the rule of inserting the definite article between 'play' and 'a musical instrument' while leaving the 'the' out when saying play basketball, football, so on and so forth?
:up: Of those 6 examples, all except 4 follow this practice: when referring to ability, insert 'the'; when referring to role in a group of some kind, omit it. I think this 'rule' was observed in Br Eng until fairly recently, but since the '50s some people in the UK have adopted the 'zero-alternative' - because it's trendy and sounds like a DJ (as DJs are always referring to a role: 'Paul played bass in the Beatles' (which encourages 'wannabe' bass-players to say 'I play bass').