Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[river1974]

Dear teachers:

(a)Would you play this DVD?
(b)Would you playback this DVD?

Is (b) ths same in meaning as (a)?

Thanks.

[helen1]

I believe so

Anyone think differently?

[river1974]

Thanks helen. Which word is used more commonly in your country?

[helen1]

Hi River,

We'd usually say 'would you play the DVD'

Playback is more commonly used as a 2 word prepositional verb - so if you're recording a song for example you would say 'could you play that last line back to me please'

[bud]

Yeah, it's the same in the US, River.

[river1974]

Thanks bud. I saw the word "playback", used as a verb, in the document provided by my client. However, my dictionary shows that "playback" is a noun. Maybe I should get another dictionary...

[bud]

You're always welcome, River!

I'm sure your dictionary is fine, but there are differences which http://www.onelook.com/ makes very clear. You can enter a word at this site, and it returns results from any online dictionary that has it as an entry. For some words, if you look at several dictionaries, you'll see a fair amount of differences.

Another thing to consider is that English speakers (or is it just in the US) like to make verbs out of nouns. Except for the modal that Helen mentioned, I've never heard playback used as a verb, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear it sometime. And if it becomes widely used, it would take a printed dictionary some time to include it in their next edition.

[river1974]

Thanks bud. I've bookmarked this website.