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Samson
Member
Posts: 36
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Dear Teachers,

I've been wondering about the following question.


1. My hobby is playing tennis.

2. My hobby is to play tennis.

Which is more gramatically acceptable? Or are both of them all right?

Please help me...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Samson,
Marius Hancu
Member
Posts: 8500
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The hits at Google Books are:

64 on "hobby is tennis"
11 on "hobby is playing tennis"
0 on "hobby is to play tennis"

The last one isn't heard too much. The first is the most frequent.
Rachel, Moderator
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Posts: 19184
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quote:
1. My hobby is playing tennis.

2. My hobby is to play tennis.

It's possible to have an infinitive as the subject complement of a sentence. Here are some examples:

  • Our task is to defeat the enemy.

  • My goal is to lose 40 pounds.

  • His ambition was to rule the world.

    Note that all these infinitives are forward-looking from the time of speaking. In sentences like these, the infinitive is used.

    However, when the complement is not forward-looking, but refers to the present (even though it might also refer to the future), the -ing form is used more frequently.

    Thus we have:

  • His greatest pleasure is playing with his grandchildren.

  • My biggest problem is overeating.

  • My hobby is playing tennis.

    RA
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