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Unit 17 - Used To

'Used to' is a grammatical structure used to describe past routines, habits, states, or beliefs. It can also be used in negative forms ('didn't use to') and questions ('Did you use to...?'). The document provides examples to illustrate its usage and emphasizes the correct forms in sentences.

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6 views2 pages

Unit 17 - Used To

'Used to' is a grammatical structure used to describe past routines, habits, states, or beliefs. It can also be used in negative forms ('didn't use to') and questions ('Did you use to...?'). The document provides examples to illustrate its usage and emphasizes the correct forms in sentences.

Uploaded by

luvmiyukiaaron
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Unit 17 – Used to

Subject + used to + verb (bare infinitive)

In summary, we can use ‘used to’ to talk about:

 A past routine or habit

 A past state

 A past truth or belief

Let’s look at some more examples:

 I used to live in Egypt when I was a child. (I lived there at some point in my
childhood but I don’t live there now).
 My family and I used to go to the seaside every summer for a caravan
holiday but we always go on city breaks now. (At some time in the past, we
went to the seaside in the summer time and we did this for many years.
However, now we go on a different kind of holiday).
 My husband used to smoke a packet of cigarettes a day! Thankfully, he’s
given up now. (This was a past habit my husband had but he doesn’t do this
anymore).
 I found an old photo of my mum the other day. I can’t believe what huge
glasses she used to wear! (She had those glasses at some point in the past
but she doesn’t use them anymore).

Let’s look at some more general examples:

 My grandmother always says people used to be more polite when she was
younger but I disagree.
 Did you know that in the Middle Ages, most people used to think the Earth
was flat?
 Many children used to leave school before they were ten years old but now
most people stay at school until they are eighteen.
 It used to snow a lot more when I was younger but winters are much milder
now.

Didn’t use to

Here are some more examples:

 I didn’t use to own a car but now I have one. (In the past, I never had a car
but that is different now).
 I didn’t use to like broccoli at all! (I didn’t like it in the past but now I do).
 Computers didn’t use to be so small or so fast! (Older computers were larger
and slower than today’s machines).
Take note: questions

It is the same for questions with used to.

Did you use to like drinking tea when you were a child?
Where did you use to go on holiday when you were at school?

To make that clear, this sentence is correct:

 My dad didn’t use to play golf – he took it up when he retired.

…but this one is wrong:

 My dad didn’t used to play golf – he took it up when he retired.

We can also use ‘never’ to give a negative meaning:

 There never used to be a park here when I was a kid.


 I never used to cook at home much but now I make my own meals all the
time.

Notice that we use used to after never, not use to.

For questions, we use did + subject + use to...? Here are some examples:

 Did you use to watch The A-Team when you were a kid?
 Did people really use to think we would have flying cars in 2015?

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