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Preposition ‘with’
We use ‘with’ in the sentences ‘It’s dangerous to play with the fire.’ and ‘My little sister always plays with her doll.’; but we don’t use ‘with’ in the sentence ‘My dad loves playing football and the violin.’
I’d like to ask when we should and shouldn’t use ‘with’ after the verb ‘play’. Are there any rules to follow? Can someone please help answer my question? Thanks in advance!
Jun 14, 2015 7:24 PM
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Answers · 5
When you play "with", you are always playing with a specific object. So you play with a doll, play with fire, etc. You can play with a football, but that refers to an actual ball, not the sport. If you play football, you are playing the sport of football. So you play football, play soccer, etc.
June 14, 2015
Playing football or violin is a different action than playing with something. When you play with something that means just playing with it like a toy. It's hard to describe exactly, but playing with the violin would just refer to using it as a toy, but nothing to do with actually playing it as an instrument. Likewise playing with food or fire is just having fun with it, not using it in any way.
You can play games, instruments, sports, etc, but playing with those things refers to just using them as a toy, not really a specific action with them.
June 14, 2015
