Language structures

Used to (used to do)

STUDY this example situation: This is Lewis. He gave up smoking three years ago. He no longer smokes. But he used to smoke. He used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. He used to smoke means that he smoked regularly for some time in the past, but he does not smoke now.

We use used to with the infinitive (used to do/ used to smoke) to say that something regularly happened in the past but no longer happens.

I used to read a lot of novels, but now I’m too lazy. “Do you go to the gym very often?” “Not now, but I used to.” Meli used to travel a lot. These days he doesn’t go away very often, we also use used to for past situations (which no longer exist): — We used to live in a small village but now we live in Bulawayo. This building is now a bookshop. It used to be a garage. Do you see that hill over there? There used to be a tent on that hill. I started eating brown bread recently. I never used to like it before. Mimi used to have long hair but she cut it short when she enrolled at college.

Used to + infinitive is always past. There is no present. You cannot say “I used to do”. For the present, use the present simple (I do). Compare the present and past: Past- he used to smoke; we used to live; there used to be. Present — he smokes; we live, there is.

The normal question form is did . . . use to . . .? — Did you use to eat a lot of sweets when you were a child? The negative form is didn’t use to . . . (it ‘used not to’). Sam didn’t use to go out very often until he met Lulu.

Be careful not to confuse I used to do and I am used to doing. The structures and meanings are different. — I used to live alone. (= I lived alone but no longer live alone.) I am used to living alone. (= I live alone and don’t find it strange or new because I’ve been living alone for some time.)

Exercise: In this exercise you have to complete the sentence with used to . . .

Example: Ralph doesn’t smoke any more but he used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day.

1 The baby doesn’t cry so much now but she . . . every night.

2 She . . . my best friend but we aren’t friends any longer.

3 We live in Gwanda now but we . . . in Beitbridge.

4 Now there’s one shop in the village but there. . . three.

5 When I was a child I . . . ice-cream, but I don’t like it now.

Now Paul has got a car. He . . . a motor-cycle. Have an appreciation of how these words are used in the given situations: hospital/the hospital, school/the school etc. Study this example with hospital: Jones had an accident a few days ago. He had to go to hospital. He is still in hospital now. Natasha went to the hospital to visit him. She is at the hospital now.

Someone goes to hospital or is in hospital if he is ill or injured. We are not necessarily thinking of a particular hospital; we are thinking of the idea of hospital.

But Natasha is not ill or injured. She is not ‘in hospital’. She went there as a visitor. We say

“Natasha went to the hospital/Natasha is at the hospital” because we mean a particular hospital. The one where Jones is. Prison, school, university, college and church. We say a criminal goes to

prison (not to the prison’); a child or learner goes to school; a student goes to university/college. We do not use the when we are thinking of the idea of these places and what they are used for:

After I leave school, I want to go to university. (as a learner/student). Why are the children at school today? (as pupils). Note that I used words like pupils, students as examples though the recommended term nowadays is learners.

This is just to make learners understand the concepts explained here. Mrs Sibanda goes to church every Sunday (for a religious service). — Ken’s brother is in prison for robbery (he is a prisoner). We say “be in prison”, but usually “at school/university/college.” “In church” and “at church” are both possible.

Now study these sentences with the: Mr Ndlovu went to the school to meet his daughter’s teacher. (He didn’t go there as a pupil.) Excuse me, where is the university, please? (a particular building) The workmen went to the church to repair the roof. (They didn’t go to a religious service.) Ken went to the prison to visit his brother, (He went as a visitor, not as a prisoner; he went to the prison where his brother was.)

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