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Past For Habits
Past For Habits
USED TO
We can use used to, to talk about past states that are not true anymore.
We used to live in New York when I was a kid. (+)
There didn't use to be a supermarket there. (-)
Did you use to have a garden? (?)
=We can also use used to to talk about past habits (repeated past actions) that don't happen
anymore.
I used to go swimming every Thursday when I was at school.
She used to smoke but she gave up a few years ago.
WOULD
=We can also use would to talk about repeated past actions that don't happen anymore.
Every Saturday I would go on a long bike ride.
My dad would read me amazing stories every night at bedtime.
• Would for past habits is slightly more formal than used to.
• We don't use the negative or question form of would for past habits.
✓ She didn't use to like chocolate, but she does now. (Correct)
❖ She wouldn’t like chocolate, but she does now. (Incorrect)
✓ Did he use to study French? (Correct)
❖ Would he study French? (Incorrect)
• Used to is for past states (stative verbs) or actions but would is for past actions only.
✓ When I was young, I used to go fishing with my father every summer. (Correct)
✓ When I was young, I would go fishing with my father every summer. (Correct)
✓ She used to have a house in the country. (Correct)
❖ She would have a house in the country. (Incorrect)
• When we emphasise the period of time or we mention when, we use past simple
She worked for a factory for three years.
• Past simple doesn't emphasise the repeated of the action. If something happened only once, we
must use the past simple.
✓ We used to go to the same beach every summer.
✓ We would go to the same beach every summer.
✓ We went to a beach on the summer of 2014.
HW
Student book page 21 exercise 3a(answers)
WB 14 & 15