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一叶扁舟
play nice , play fair
hi there
i have a question
we know the idiom " play nice , play fair"
but why don't we say " play nicely , play fairly"
" play nicely , play fairly" is grammatically wrong? or something else?
thank you
May 28, 2019 4:21 AM
Answers · 2
3
We just don't. Idioms have historical origins that don't always translate.
"Play nice" isn't an idiom that translates with any other word combinations. You cannot say "Run Nice" or "Shop Nice" or "Eat Nice" and have the same meaning. "Play nice" means don't cheat (basically)... "Run Nice" doesn't mean "Run nicely" or "Run fairly." It just doesn't translate at all.
Just like how you can't change the verb in "play nice," you also can't change any other aspect of the phrase, without ruining the whole phrase.
So again, we just don't.
May 28, 2019
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一叶扁舟
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English
Learning Language
English
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