When talking about a past habit, we can use either the Past Simple Tense or the construction ‘used to V1’, e.g. She ate out a lot when she was in her early twenties.= She used to eat out a lot when she was in her early twenties.
We can’t use ‘used to’ if you talk about a single action in the past, only the Past Simple Tense must be used. e.g. She cut down on eating sponges for dessert.
There are two more similar constructions:
be used to +noun/pronoun/gerund (V-ing) meaning the state of having a habit. This construction can be used in the Present, Past and Future Simple and Perfect.
e.g. Mike has always been used to putting all electrical appliances right, but he is not used to all the functions of a new smartphone of his.
get used to+noun/pronoun/gerund (V-ing) meaning acquiring a habit. The construction can be used in all the tenses.
e.g. Julia is getting used to doing jobs around the house.
- Read more examples in the handout.
- Think of negative and interrogative forms of all the three constructions.
- Make up 3 oppositions (1 opposition is the examples of the three constructions):
e.g. I didn’t use to get up early being a student. — I have to work early in the morning, so I‘m getting used to it (getting up early). — I hope in the near future I‘ll be used to getting up early/being an early bird.
- Do the tasks in the handout.
