Used To Do /
Would Do / Be Used To Doing
We use this expression to talk about habits or
repeated actions in the past which we don't do in the present. We also use it
to talk about states in the past which are no longer true. For example:
●
I used to have long hair (but now I have short hair).
●
He used to smoke (but now he doesn't smoke).
●
They used to live in India (but now they live in Germany). Watch out! With the negative and the
question it's 'use' and not 'used':
●
Did you use to be a teacher?
●
Did he use to study French?
●
She didn't use to like chocolate, but she
does now.
● I didn't use to want to have a nice house.
Note! With this 'used to' there is no verb 'be'. We
CAN'T say 'I am used to have long hair'.
➤➤Exercise 16. Used to + Infini
Make an affirmative sentence,
negative sentence or question using ‘used to + infinitive’:
1.
I/live in a flat when I was a child.
2.
We / go to the beach every summer?
3.
She / love eating chocolate, but now she
hates it.
4. He / not / smoke.
5.
I / play tennis when I was at school.
6.
She / be able to speak French, but she has
forgotten it all.
7.
He / play golf every weekend?
8.
They both / have short hair.
9.
Julie / study Portuguese.
10. I / not
/ hate school.
Would + Infinitive
We can also use 'would + infinitive' to talk about a
habit or repeated action in the past. We usually use 'would + infinitive' in
this way when we're telling a story about the past. So, we can say:
●
When I was a student, we would often have a
drink after class on a Friday.
●
When I lived in Italy, we would go to a
little restaurant near our house.
However, we
don't use 'would + infinitive' to talk about states in the past. So, if we're
talking about the past, we CAN'T say:
●
I would have long hair.
●
I would live in Scotland.
➤➤Exercise 17. Used to + Infinitive
1.
I / have short hair when I was a teenager.
2. We / go
to the same little café for lunch every day when I was a student.
3. She /
love playing badminton before she hurt her shoulder.
4.
He / walk along the beach every evening
before bed.
5. I / always lose when I
played chess with my father. She / be able to dance very well.
6. My
grandfather / drink a cup of coffee after dinner every night.
7. Luke /
not have a car.
8. We /
live in Brazil.
9. My
family / often go to the countryside for the weekend when I was young.
➤➤Exercise 18. Be Used To
Make sentences using ‘be used to
+ verb-ing’ or ‘be used to + noun / pronoun’. You need to choose the correct tense:
1. I
(live) in London, so the crowds don’t bother
me.
2.
She (the Tokyo subway) so she doesn’t get lost.
3.
He (not / deal) with animals, so he’s a bit
scared of the dogs.
4.
John (drive) in heavy traffic.
5.
I (wake) up in the night with my baby. I
drink lots of coffee!
6.
It was very hard to get up at five when I
first started this job, because I (not / it).
7. She (drink) a lot of coffee, so she doesn’t have a problem
with going to sleep afterwards.
8. I’ve
lived here in Hokkaido for three years but I (not / the snow).
9.
He (do) a lot of exercise, so a ten-mile walk
is easy for him.
10. Julie’s flat is in the centre of London. When she visits a
friend in the countryside, it’s difficult for her to sleep because she (not /
the quiet).
We use 'be used to + verb-ing' to talk about things which feel normal for us or things that we are accustomed to:
●
I'm used to getting up
early, so I don't mind doing it (=
getting up early is normal for me, it's what I usually do).
●
My little daughter is used
to eating lunch at noon. So she was grumpy yesterday when we didn't eat until one.
Note that we make the negative or
the question with the verb 'be' in the normal way. The 'used to' doesn't
change:
●
Lucy isn't used to staying up late, so she's
very tired today.
●
Are your children used to walking a lot?
We can also use 'be used to + noun', which has the same meaning:
●
I've lived in the UK almost
all my life, so I'm used to rain (= rain
is normal for me).
●
That football team always lose, so they're
used to disappointment!
We can put the verb 'be' into any tense. So we can
talk about things in the past or the future as well as the present using this
expression:
●
It was difficult when I
first started university, because I wasn't used to the amount of work we had to do.
●
Soon I'll be used to driving in London and I
won't be so frightened!
We can use 'get used to + verb-ing' to talk about the
change of not normal to normal. We can also use this in any tense:
●
Don't worry if your new job is hard at first.
You'll get used to it.
●
It took me
a while, but I got used to speaking another language every day.
●
It took me a few months to get used to living in
Japan. At first everything seemed very different, but then gradually it became
normal for me.
