We use both of these to talk about things in the past which we don't do now or are

not happening now. Sometimes both 'used to' and 'would' are OK in one sentence
- sometimes only 'used to'.
Let's start with some examples of 'used to' first. We might say
!" used to li#e in $anchester but " mo#ed to London last year.!
!When he was at school he used to play football e#ery Saturday.!
!She used to hate her %ob until she got a promotion.!
&ll of these sentences describe actions or situations in the past which are finished
now' li#ing in $anchester playing football e#ery Saturday hating her %ob - these
are all finished now.
We use 'used to' to talk about actions or situations that continued for some time in
the past not for e#ents which happened suddenly or %ust for a moment. So we
can't say( '" used to ha#e a really good idea when " was brushing my teeth this
morning' because 'ha#ing a really good idea' happens suddenly - in one moment.
)ow let's mo#e on to 'would'. *ere are some examples(
!When he was at uni#ersity he would sleep until noon at the weekends.!
!$y sister li#ed in &ustralia for many years but she would always come home for
+hristmas.!
!" would always forget my homework until the teacher threatened to punish me.!
&gain these sentences are about situations in the past which are finished.
*owe#er it's important to notice that all the sentences here are about actions or
situations which were repeated again and again and again. Sleeping until noon at
the weekends coming home for +hristmas forgetting my homework - all these
things were repeated many times again and again and again.
,his is the difference between 'would' and 'used to' -
We only use 'would' to describe actions or situations that were repeated again and
again and again...
-ut we use 'used to' for any extended action or situation in the past.
'Would' is only good for actions or situations that were repeated many times'
'.sed to' is good for any action or situation that continued for a period of time in
the past including repeated actions or situations.
,o make this clearer let's look at the three examples of 'used to' sentences and
see if we can change them into 'would' sentences.
*ere's the first example again(
!" used to li#e in $anchester but " mo#ed to London last year.!
+an we use 'would' instead of 'used to' here/
)o we can't because 'li#ing in $anchester' wasn't repeated again and again and
again. "t's simply a situation in the past. ,herefore only 'used to' is good in this
sentence.
,he second example again(
! When he was at school he used to play football e#ery Saturday.!
*ere we're talking about 'playing football e#ery Saturday'. ,his is an action that
was repeated many times so we can also say(
!When he was at school he would play football e#ery Saturday!.
'.sed to' and 'would' are both good here and the meaning is the same.
0inally the third example again(
!She used to hate her %ob until she got a promotion.!
1id she 'hate her %ob' many times/
)o this isn't a repeated action so in this example 'would' isn't possible. We ha#e to
use 'used to'.
.se to2 .sed to
,here is a little confusion on how to use the words use to and used to. One reason
for the confusion is that it is sometimes used as a #erb and sometimes used as an
ad%ecti#e. ,he other reason is because it seems like the tense changes. "t's really
3uite simple when you look at it.
.sed as an adjective. .se to be + used to. ,his means to be accustomed to. 0or
example- I can study with the TV on. I am used to it. "t means " am accustomed
ad%usted or don't mind ha#ing the ,4 play while "'m studying.
Or another example- Tim had a hard time living in Tokyo. He wasn't used to so
many people. ,im didn't ha#e experience being with big crowds of people before.
.sed as a #erb. Use to + verb is a regular #erb and means something that
happened but doesn't happen any more. "t uses -ed to show past tense. -ut since it
always means something that happened in the past it should always use past
tense. 0or example- I used to go to school in aris. 5" went to school there before
but now " don't.6 Or !hen "oshua was a child# he used to climb trees. 5)ow he
doesn't climb trees.6
7emember we always use this word when talking about the past. So when do you
use use to without the d at the end/ When the base form of the #erb is used. Look
at these examples- $he didn't use to swim be%ore noon. 5)ow she does swim before
noon.6 Or &id your %ather use to ride a horse' "n these cases the past tense is
shown with the did and didn't.
When we use used to we are talking about something which happened regularly
or was true at an earlier stage in our li#es but which is now o#er.
,hus it can only be used in the past tense. "f we want to talk about present habits
or states we simply use the present simple tense.
With the negati#e we often say never used to in preference to didn't use to or
used not to - in an informal register. Study the following examples(
'1o you remember/ ,here used to be fields of clo#er where those houses
are now.'
'" ne#er used to smoke but now " smoke twenty a day.'
'8ou used to play chess with your friends but nowadays you play chess
with your computer.'
'" used to buy really expensi#e make-up but that was when " was working
full-time.'
,o make 3uestions we use the normal auxiliary did. )ote that used to cannot be
used in 3uestion tag form. )ote also the possible2probable replies to used to
3uestions.
Study the following examples(
'1id you use to go ice-skating when you were young/' ')o " ne#er did.'
'1idn't you use to ring the school to say you were ill and then play poker
with Sam/' '" sometimes did yeah9'
'8ou used to do ballet in the church hall didn't you/' '8es " did. :#ery
Saturday between the ages of nine and twel#e.'
be used to ; noun or -ing
get used to ; noun or -ing
"f somebody gets or is used to something he becomes or is fully familiar with it.
"t is no longer strange or awkward. "t can refer to past present or future
experiences. Study the following(
',hese are #ery high heels " know but "'m sure you'll get used to
5wearing6 them.'
'" wasn't used to li#ing in such a small flat and " found it really hard at first.'
'"'m used to all the noise now but "'d always li#ed in the country before
you see where it is #ery 3uiet.'
'" ne#er got used to shaking hands with people all the time when " li#ed
there. "t's %ust not the custom in our country.'
'&re you getting used to the accent now/ "t's #ery different from standard
:nglish isn't it/
"n all of the abo#e examples be or get used to can be replaced by be or become
accustomed to which is #ery similar in meaning if a little more formal.
7ead through them again using these replacement #erbs. So %ust to recap and
confirm(
'When " li#ed in $exico " used to drink te3uila at e#ery opportunity.' 5&
regular habit then but probably not now.6
'" found it 3uite a strong drink at first but " soon got used to it.' 5"t 3uickly
became 3uite palatable.6