How to use 'USED TO' correctly - Basic English Grammar

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Transcript:

Hi and welcome. My name is Ganesh, I'm
today's lesson we're going to talk about
how to use 'used to' correctly.

Now this is
one of the most misunderstood and
misused areas of grammar and by that I
mean, many students don't understand the
structure and they make a lot of
mistakes with it.

Well that's why we have this lesson
today and after watching this video you
won't be making any of those mistakes.
Alright now the first and most
important thing that you need to keep in
mind is that 'used to' talks about the
past.

It doesn't talk about the present or the
future,
it talks about the past. Now there is one
situation where you can use it to talk
about the present but I will tell you
what that is at the end of this video
but it's not that common so you don't
have to really worry about it.
Just remember that we use 'used to' to
talk about the past.

In talking about the
past 'used to' has two purposes -
the first is to refer to past habits.
Take a look at this sentence I have over
here - "I used to play soccer in high
school."

Now when you hear me saying that
sentence you should immediately think of
two things - first,
this happened in the past, and second -
this was a habit in the past. That means
I'm not saying I played soccer one time
in high school

No, I'm saying "I used to play soccer in
high school" - that means it was a habit
for me, and I did it repeatedly. Have a
look at this timeline
I've got. Let's say that that side is the
future, this is now or the present and
over on this side is the past. All of
these are the action and the action is
I used to play soccer in high school. So
you can see that I did the action
regularly or repeatedly. So it was a
habit for me. In the second sentence "Matt
used to drink coffee every morning." So
once again

Matt did it every day. He did it as a
habit. You also know that Matt perhaps
does not do it now because we're saying
Matt used to drink coffee every morning.
So maybe Matt drinks tea now or he
doesn't drink anything in the morning. So
that's one way to use 'used to', that is to
talk about past habits.

The second is to talk about states or
situations that are no longer true. What
do I mean by that? Well have a look at
sentence number three -
Karen used to live in Vermont.

Notice
that living is not really a habit
because it's not something that we do
repeatedly - it's simply a state - a state
of being or a situation.

And this is a
situation that was true in the past so
Karen started living in Vermont at some
point and she lived in Vermont for some
period of time and then the situation
finished.

So let's extend the sentence - we
can say "Karen used to live in Vermont
but now she lives in New York." So that
means she stopped living in Vermont and
at some point she moved to New York. In
our last sentence, "The office used to be
very tidy when Frank was the manager."
What do you understand when you hear
that sentence?

Well I'm not really happy about the new
manager because I'm saying the office
used to be very tidy when Frank was the
manager. So you know that that situation
is now finished.

Frank is not the
manager anymore and the office is not
very tidy anymore. Tidy means neat and
clean so I'm so saying it in a sort of a
negative way. I'm saying the office used
to be very tidy back then and now it's
not so tidy.

So that again is a
situation that is no longer true. Alright
so now you know the two major ways that
we use 'used to' - one is to talk about past
habits and the second is states or
situations that were true in the past
and that are no longer true.

OK now let's take a quick look at how to
make negative sentences and questions
with 'used to'. This is one place where a
lot of students make mistakes. Alright
take a look at what I have over here - to
make negative sentences we put 'didn't' in
front of 'used to' and we remove the 'd'
from 'used to' - that is very important. So
'didn't use to'

Let's make some negative sentences with
these. In the first "I didn't use to play
soccer in high school." Remember 'didn't
use to'

[LearnEnglishLab]

Hey there, I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Let me know if you have any questions. Also check out:

[sarfarazahmed]

You are great teacher that I have ever seen my life..I am learning more from u sir ..please keep it up..thanks

[wakabiwilly]

I had never come across a teacher of your nature. Someone who teaches from the grass root. It's a pleasure.

[jcorbett]

I teach English in an American high school, this is one of the best explanations of how to use Used to... Good job.

[thdecember]

Bravo.. even I was a slave of the common error " I used to get up at 7 O'clock in the morning." You corrected it now. Bravo Master Ganesh

[Mr_expert_gameplay]

I used to see other boring english grammer channel previously but now i am watching your nice channel.

[ВасилийБудко-сг]

In comparison with other Indian teachers from the chanel, your pronunciation is just awesome!

[MegaBdlover]

Hi sir ! Your teaching method is awesome. You know how to teach english well.Teaching is an art. So you are an artist i think.I have seen many teachers who doesnt have basic teaching skill.They think everybody thinks like them.Greetings from Bangladesh.

[TheClaudiosantos]

Your videos are very clear. One of the best teachers on internet. I would love to take lessons with you personally

[rswisdom]

As you mentioned in the video, i used to use "used to" in present situation...now i get cleared that where to use it. thank you ganesh....

[ziya]

Thank you for making these videos. They are very helpful and i have learned a lot. Please keep up the good work and also make more videos. Thanks again!

[myriammartinez]

I like this class also, it is very interesting.. Thank you for teaching us.

[vm-qhnc]

You are excellent in teaching grammar.

[sharmisthamallik]

Sir you are a very good teacher . Your teaching is very clear .

[nayerasoliman]

Thanks master
Your explanation Mashaalah
Very very easy and i got it easly
Thanks

[DEEPAKDLH]

I watch ur videos every day and I have learned so many things in every video..🙏🙏👌👌😍😍

[jagdeshkumar]

Hello Ganesh!
I am following your videos. I am learning lot from your English lectures.Could you please make a video on when to use look or Seem?

[subodhchauhan]

Thanks you so much for clear the doubt for use to 🙏

[sinoyvarghese]

Your way of teaching is like an art. Great.tnx

[majeedmanchi]

u r a great teacher!
i like ur way f teachng. keep it up.