Language Practice

Intermediate

Grammar reference    Intermediate 04 Make yourself at home

used to
used to + an infinitive verb
1 The hall used to be bigger than it is now.
2 The sisters used to walk around the table and tell each other about their plans
and ideas.
We use used to + an infinitive verb for something that happened or existed in the
past and has finished now.
1 for past situations
2 for past habits
For negatives, we use didn’t use to + an infinitive verb.
People didn’t use to spend as much time in their living room as they do now.
For yes / no questions, we use did + a subject + used to, followed by an infinitive verb.
Did you use to be an actor?
Did they use to work in Oxford?
If we feel quite certain that something was true, we can use didn’t instead of did.
Didn’t your living room use to be smaller?
We can also use use to in information questions.
Where did you use to live?
How did people use to keep warm in winter?
We can use would and wouldn’t instead of used to and didn’t use to, but only for repeated actions.
The young sisters would sit around the fire.
Each morning, I would get up early and go running.
He went out a lot, but he wouldn’t go into town on Friday night.
We can’t use it for situations:
He would live in a large house in the country.
Adverbs of frequency like often, sometimes and never go before used to and after would:
He never used to clean his room.
We would often hear strange noises in the attic.
! Do not confuse used to + an infinitive verb with am used to or get used to + an -ing verb.
We use these to talk about things that we found difficult or strange but now find easy
or normal.
Did you find it difficult when your company reduced your salary?
At first, yes, but I soon got used to living on less money, and now I’m used to living quite cheaply.