He started played vs He started to play

The correct phrase is "he started to play." The infinitive form of the verb "to play" is needed after the verb "started." The phrase "he started played" is incorrect and not used in English.

Last updated: March 27, 2024 • 1913 views

He started played

This phrase is incorrect in English. The verb "played" should be in the infinitive form after the verb "started."

The correct structure is "he started to play." Use the infinitive form of the verb (to + base form) after the verb "started."

Show examples from the web [+]

We started and played at various service clubs on the post.
A few women have removed or raised their burka, some men have had a shave, music has started to be played again, but there is fear of punishment and vendettas.
He played this music, sure, but something happened to him and he started drinking and drinking and never stopped...
He was younger than me when he started playing piano, and I wanted to play the piano, but so many kids played it, and there's only one at school, so it's hard to get practice time in.
Troy just - He started gasping.
He started working here right after college.
Before he started canceling Wyatt Industries' contracts.
Then he started having trouble at work.
He started recruiting Charlie in junior high.
He started writing one for me.
Anyway... He started to drink real bad.
He hated it, Richie, he started yelling about N.A.F.T.A.
And then he started with different artifacts.
He started working here while he was incarcerated.
Then he started uttering the constellations.
He started a war against the chairman.
He started losing it towards the end.
Actually, Detective, he started speaking.
He started saying that I deserved better.
But then he started acting strange.

Alternatives:

he started to play
he began playing
he initiated the game
he commenced playing
he kicked off the game

He started to play

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English. It follows the standard structure of using the infinitive form of the verb after the verb "started."

Use this phrase when describing the beginning of an action or activity. The structure is "started + to + base form of the verb."

Examples:

He started to play the piano.
She started to run in the park.
They started to study for the exam.
The children started to build a sandcastle.
We started to cook dinner.

Show examples from the web [+]

He started to play with this poor soul...
Ray sat down next to her at the piano and he started to play.
On the other hand, Mozart was three when he started to play the piano, - and he was composing at six.
Then he saw that I was attracted to him when... as they say, when did these kind of foreplays... when we went to bed, he started to play with me. kissing me everywhere... my neck... and everything.
I started to play more freely.
And the band started to play...
They started to play ABBA, I tried to dance on the chair, but fell off.
Mr. McCoy brought the girls to see Tracey, everything was going fine, and then the youngest one started to play around a little bit.
- How she grew up, when she started to play soccer.
This past year, she started to play them back to the elephants.
Ever since I started to play chess, my power of thinking has grown a hundredfold.
Civil society has tentatively started to play its role, but this is usually based on foreign financing while know-how and credibility are absent in some cases.
5.7.2 Civil society [10] has tentatively started to play its role, but this is usually based on foreign financing while know-how and credibility are absent in some cases.
So the Vangelis music started to play, the seats started to rumble and we ran through the thing.
And I didn't know it until I started to play.
After that, we started to play chess together twice,
Stations on Long Island, WDRE, started to play us, underground, alternative stations.
Friends, since the stump's been here a long time, and has only just started to play music, it can only mean one thing.
More and more countries are becoming involved in space projects, with space having started to play an increasingly large role in our lives.
There's been something odd about him, ever since he started that play and now...

Alternatives:

he began playing
he initiated the game
he commenced playing
he kicked off the game
he got into playing

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

He started played vs He started to play