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II
Comparing habits and customs from different
societies
Customs and habits are not always the same in all the communities. In some societies
they change faster than in other.
When you want to express that an activity was a past habit, we use USED TO. It
means that it occurred in the past but not anymore, we only use it to talk about the
past; there is no similar expression for the present.
Examples:
My grandmother
used to
make her own soap, but now she buys it in the store.
In the past my father smoked, but he doesn’t now. (He used to smoke)
After
used to
we always use the infnitive. Never use a continuous or past tense
verb.
Example:
Correct: he used to smoke.
Incorrect: He used to smoked, he used to smoking.
Except in negative and questions, the correct form is USED TO.
Example:
I used to go to the park every Sunday.
To form questions, use DID and the negative form is usually didn’t use to.
Used to is not a tense but it is like a tense. It is a special expression and we use it for
the past only. We use it to talk about an activity that people did regularly in the past
like a habit and when we talk about a situation that was true in the past.
Structure of used to
Learn more
Used to
Subject
Auxiliary
Did
Not
Main verb use
Infnitive
A frmative
I
used
to do.
Negative
I
did
not
use
to do.
Subject
Auxiliary
Did
Main verb use
Infnitive
Interrogative
Did
you
use
to do?