I did ballroom dancing

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Rachel Adams

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Hello.

Could you please correct my sentence? Should it be ''ballroom dance'' or ''balroom dancing?'' In what other similar expressions is it possible to use ''do?''

''I did ballroom dancing when I was younger''.
 

GoesStation

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It's fine as written, except that the final punctuation should be inside the closing quotation mark.
 

emsr2d2

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Hello.

Could you please correct my sentence? Should it be ''ballroom dance'' or ''ballroom dancing"? In what other similar expressions is it possible to use ''do"?

''I did ballroom dancing when I was younger."

With regard to GoesStation's comment about punctuation, note that you had made the reverse error in the other two sentences. Your question mark should have come after the quotation marks surrounding the word in question.
 

GoesStation

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Is ''ballroom dance'' also acceptable?
I wouldn't use it in your sentence but I wouldn't be surprised to see another native speaker do so.
 

Yankee

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jutfrank

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Is ''ballroom dance'' also acceptable?

I wouldn't use it in your sentence but I wouldn't be surprised to see another native speaker do so.


Huh?

No, it is not acceptable. It's wrong. You need a gerund there. You can't use a verb.

The verb structure you're looking for is this:

to do ballroom dancing

Your sentence is talking about the past so you need to change the tense of the verb do to did accordingly.
 

GoesStation

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Yankee

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In the phrase ballroom dance, "dance" is a noun.

Yes. From Wikipedia:
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world.
 

emsr2d2

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"Dance" is certainly a noun in this dialogue.

Helen: Did you take any extra-curricular classes when you were at school?
Tom: I took dance, art and music.
Helen: What sort of dance?
Tom: I did ballroom [dance] and tap [dance].

Having said that, the final line is just as likely to use gerunds: "I did ballroom dancing and tap dancing".
 
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