Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Used To Theory
Used To Theory
It
can refer to repeated actions or to a state or situation:
He used to play football for the local team, but he’s too old now.
In statements, the form used to does not change. We do not use the verb be
before it. It always refers to past time:
I didn’t used to like broccoli when I was younger, but I love it now. (Don’t use
this form in exams.)
In very formal styles, we can use the negative form used not to:
I think we met once, a couple of years ago. Did you use to work with Kevin
Harris?
Didn’t she used to live in the same street as us? (Don’t use this form in written
exams.)
Used to or would?
We can use used to or would to talk about people’s habits in the past. When we use
them both together, used to most commonly comes first, as it sets the scene for the
actions being reported:
When we were kids, we used to invent amazing games. We would imagine we were
the government and we would make crazy laws that everyone had to obey.
Used to, but not would, can describe a state or situation which is no longer true:
She used to sing in a choir, but she gave it up. (She sang, but she doesn’t sing
any more)
Be used to means ‘be accustomed to’ or ‘be familiar with’. It can refer to the past,
present or future. We follow be used to with a noun phrase, a pronoun or the -ing
form of a verb:
University is very different from school, but don’t worry. You’ll soon get used to
it. (or, more formally, You’ll soon become used to it.)