Does the phrase "play along" have a negative nuance? If I say "I will play along with him to win.", does that mean I will cooperate with him unwillingly?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Sometimes it can, but not in every scenario. In this scenario, it does have a negative nuance. Moana tells us that she will make herself happy by following the rules of her tribe. However, she knows that this won't make her happy, so it has a negative connotation. The sentence you asked about seems like a negative nuance. It would just depend on how it's said and the circumstances of why it's being said. From reading your example sentence, it sounds like it has a negative nuance and does mean I will cooperate with him unwillingly to win something. It can be challenging to pinpoint what "play along" phrases have positive connotations and which ones have negative connotations. I will give a couple of easy examples to give you an idea of what "play along" would look like with a positive nuance and a negative nuance. Ex: Fine, he wants to do this, then I'll play along. => negative nuance. Using "fine" is an indicator that the speaker is annoyed. Ex: Ooh, that sounds fun! I'll play along! => positive nuance. Using "ooh" shows us that the speaker is excited about something.
