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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

With or without 'the'

I can ply the piano.

or

I can play piano.



Which one is it?
  

Top answer

It's I can play the piano. But people sometimes leave out the , so you may hear it without the . CJ

— CalifJim

  • It's I can play the piano.
  • But people sometimes leave out the , so you may hear it without the .
  • CJ
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6 Answers
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It's

I can play the piano.

But people sometimes leave out the, so you may hear it without the.

CJ
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It seems to be a general rule that we use "the" with musical instruments, no "the" with games and sports.

Let's play football this afternoon. Last night we played Monopoly.

I can't play the piano very well, but I do enjoy it.
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What about
I play on the guitar.

Because it's common to me ...
Emotion: thinking
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I would not use on.

I play the guitar.

CJ
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On the guitar... hmm, I think I have heard it used in sentences like "I'm gonna play this solo on my new guitar", but I am not sure. [:^)]
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Yup! You either "play the [instrument]", i.e., you know how to play it, or you "play [a piece of music] on the [instrument]", i.e., you actually perform.

There's another post on this somewhere, but that's the summary of it.

CJ
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