used to meaning: 2 essential uses and easy examples

Used to meaning

Used to expresses discontinued past habits. It highlights the fact that the action is no longer done in the present.

• Used to sentences

1. Peter used to ride a bike.
2. I used to tell my kids stories before going to bed.

Now let’s consider the following questions about sentence 1 above:

• Are we speaking about the present or the past? (PAST)
• Does Peter ride a bike now? (NO)
• Did he ride a bike in the past? (YES)
• Did he ride it once or many times? (MANY TIMES; it was a habit)

The questions above show that we are talking about an action that happened many times in the past(it was a habit) and does not happen now anymore.

Used to also expresses repeated past states that are no longer true.

• I used to be fat. I’m thin now.
• We used to live in Manchester.
• I used to have long hair.

The negative form: Didn’t use to

• He didn’t use to play rugby.
• We didn’t use to go to school on foot.
• I didn’t use to cook my meals.

Used to or would?

“Would” can replace used to when it expresses an action, not a state.

1. Peter would ride a bike.
2. I would tell my kids stories before going to bed.
3. When I was a child, I would play video games.

Find the uses of relative pronouns and relative adverbs in this interesting article.

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