participate or join?

Participate (in) => to take part in something. Ex. Participate in the World Cup competition.

Join (in ) => participate, take part. Ex: joined in the search.

Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin

Therefore (b) and (d) are both correct. This is not a good test question as there are two equ

Hi guys,

The two friends have decided to............................... in the boating competition.

a) enter b) participate c) take on d) join.

I've chosen b, i'm between b and c. i know their meaning but they are almos

BTW, A would've been fine but the presence of in eliminates it.
You enter a/the competition, thus without in.

Continuing along the lines Clive has mentioned, you join in an activity of some kind. A competition is a scheduled event, not, strictly speaking, an activity. So b is definitely the best answer.

Are you sure you copied c from the question correctly?
decided to take on in the boating competition?
That makes no sense at all.
I'm concerned t

Hi guys,

In everyday, casual English, you won't often hear people use 'participate' here. Instead, you'll very often hear The two friends have decided to go in the boating competition.

Best wishes, Clive

go in? Is that British? It doesn't ring true for me as a speaker of AmE.
CJ

CliveIn everyday, casual English, you won't often hear people use 'participate' here. Instead, you'll very often hear The two friends have decided to go in the boating competition. wishesor
run in (some might think this inappropriate for sailing/boating)

Hi,

Gee, talk about England and America being two countries separated by a common language. Ain't it the truth!

'Go in' a competition means 'enter' a competition. It doesn't refer to the activity you actually do in the competition, thus it doesn't mean boat in, sail in, run in, etc.

CJ, what verb do you hear people commonly use in speech, then? Do they really say

oops i'm sorry I had written false, i would have written " I'm between b and d. I've already written below If it's d ......

Join in the competition sounds fine to my Brit English ears too...but not if it were a very serious competition, only if it were a fairly informal 'open to all comers' fun thing in the park. I suppose it depends on whether the competition element (I have to win that Olympic medal for rowing!) or the activity element (ooh look, there's lots of people messing about in boats, let's go and join in) i