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Used To Vs Would

Used to and would are both used to describe past habitual actions, but there are two key differences between them. First, would requires the past time frame to already be established, while used to does not. Second, would is not used with stative verbs like love, be, understand, while used to can be. To summarize, used to has fewer restrictions on its use, so it is generally safer to use used to instead of would if unsure.

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67 views3 pages

Used To Vs Would

Used to and would are both used to describe past habitual actions, but there are two key differences between them. First, would requires the past time frame to already be established, while used to does not. Second, would is not used with stative verbs like love, be, understand, while used to can be. To summarize, used to has fewer restrictions on its use, so it is generally safer to use used to instead of would if unsure.

Uploaded by

qristine robaqidze
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Used to vs.

would
comparison
Used to and would are both use to describe something that happened regularly in the
past but doesn't happen any longer
However, there are two important differences between used to and would. The
first difference is that would should not be used unless it has already been established
that the time frame is in the past, while used to does not require this. This example,
with used to at the beginning, sounds natural:
• I used to watch cartoons every Saturday morning when I was very little. Now I
rarely watch TV.

However, when used to is replaced with would, the same example becomes awkward
and ungrammatical: 
• *I would watch cartoons every Saturday morning when I was very little. Now I
rarely watch TV.

But if the past time frame is established before would appears, would sounds fine. 


• When I was little, I would get up and watch cartoons every Saturday morning. Now I
rarely watch TV.
The second difference between used to and would is that
would is not used with stative verbs such as love, be, understand, feel…

• When I was a student, I used to love sleeping late on the weekends.


(natural and grammatical)
• *When I was a student, I would love sleeping late on weekends.
(awkward and ungrammatical)

To summarize, the use of would is more restricted than that of used to.
Therefore, if you aren't sure which one to use, it's best to choose used to

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