structure · neutral

used to + V (past habit)

Band 4-5speakingtask2

Describes a habit or state that was true in the past but no longer true now.

Examples

“I used to play football every weekend.”

“There used to be a cinema here.”

“He used to smoke, but he quit last year.”

Band 8 sentence

“I used to commute three hours a day, which left me exhausted by the weekend.”

Collocations

  • used to + V (negative: didn't use to / used not to)

Word family

would + V (past habit, more formal) modal/verb phrase

Common mistakes

I use to go there every summer.→I used to go there every summer.

I used to know the answer (meaning: I now know it).→I know the answer now.

Say it for a higher band

5use to + V (spelling error)→6would + V (overuse in place of 'used to')→7+used to + V

Synonyms

would + V (for past repeated actions)

Easily confused

would + V (past habitual)

“When we were kids, we would spend hours playing in the river.”

Related words

look forward to + V-ingtry + V-ing / try to + Vfor + somebody + to + Vavoid + V-ingbe likely to + Vbegin / start + V-ing / to + Vprevent + somebody + from + V-ingturn out + to + V

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In Gerunds & infinitives

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