Unit 3B - Used to, Usually

Unti 3b used to, Usually

We use used to to describe past habits and states. E.g. When I was at school, I used to play football every Saturday. (past habit) The whole family used to love animals. We always had two or three pets in the house. (past state)

The negative forms are didn't use to and never used to. E.g. My parents didn't use to go out much, so we spent a lot of time together. We never used to understand my dad's jokes.

There is no present tense of used to. Use adverbs of frequency instead. E.g. They usually go out to a restaurant once or twice a week. How many times a month do you usually visit them? You can also use adverbs of frequency with the past simple and a past time phrase (e.g. when I was a child, back then) E.g. We went abroad for a holiday quite often back then.

We can use the adverbials not anymore and not any longer to say that a past habit or state has now stopped. E.g. I don't play football anymore. I usually go to the gym instead. They don't live in the same house any longer. We can use the adverb still to talk about a past habit or state that has not changed: E.g. I still love board games. I frequently play Chinese Chequers. Do you still see him very often?

Past simple or used to?

We use used to for situations that were true for a long time (e.g. a few months or years). For shorter periods of time, we usually us the past simple. E.g. When we were on holiday last week, we went swimming everyday.

Past simple or used to?

We often use used to for situations that aren't true now. E.g. When I was a child I used to love ice cream, but now I don't really like it. Use the past simple, not used to, to describe something that happened once or a specified number of times. E.g. I went to the USA twice when I was a child.

Thank you!