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Lagataw Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

An American told me this...

1. We say "play the piano"

Is it ungrammatical to say "play piano"?

And also, can we say both "practice piano" and "practice the piano"?

A native American speaker told me that the word piano functions differently in the phrases "practice piano" and "play the piano". With the verb play, "the piano" means "a musical instrument". On the other hand, with the verb practice, the word "piano" means an activity like soccer (practice soccer). Hence, we need to drop the article "the". (Did I use the conjunction "Hence" correctly?)

Is this explanation sound? Do native Americans actually say "practice piano"?

Which one is standard English?

2. A: I watched TV last night.
B: I was just wondering. How often do you watch it?

Can we ever replace the word TV (in watch TV) with the pronoun "it"?

3. Lastly, can we ever use the word quirky to describe non-human noouns as in quirky adjectives and articles?

Thanks guys!

Edit: Modified title. CJ
  

Top answer

lagataw Is it ungrammatical to say "play piano"? I consider it "borderline" grammatical. I understand it as a lower register way of saying "play the piano".

— CalifJim

  • lagataw Is it ungrammatical to say "play piano"?
  • I consider it "borderline" grammatical.
  • I understand it as a lower register way of saying "play the piano".
  • Likewise for "practice piano" / "practice the piano" / "practice playing the piano".
  • lagataw A native American speaker A native American is someone from among the original people who populated this continent before Europeans discovered it -- also known as an Indian.
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5 Answers
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lagatawIs it ungrammatical to say "play piano"?
I consider it "borderline" grammatical. I understand it as a lower register way of saying "play the piano". Likewise for "practice piano" / "practice the piano" / "practice playing the piano".
lagatawA native American speaker
A native American is someone from among the o
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Thank you. Thank you very much CJ.

Yep, why didn't it occur to me that native Americans are actually the likes of Pocahontas (I suppose)?!
But I often hear the phrase "native speaker". This has a reference in the real world, doesn't it? But how do I know what nationality that native speaker is? Can't I say native American speaker and native Britsih speaker?

Doe
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CalifJimA native American is someone from among the original people who populated this continent before Europeans discovered it -- also known as an Indian. I think you mean a native speaker of American English.
Oh sorry. I didn't read it carefully. The right term should be a native speaker of American English. Ignore my previous comment. Forgive my ignor
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lagatawDoesn't it matter whether I capitalize N in "native" or not?
I don't know. I've never thought about it. Whatever the case, whether I see Native American or native American, I think of Pocahontas. To avoid a possible misunderstanding I always keep native and speakerright next to each other with no words in between.
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Thank you very much.

And thanks for this forum. It's helped me a lot!
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