Author Topic: The pitfalls in constructing negative “used to” sentences  (Read 3817 times)

Joe Carillo

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The pitfalls in constructing negative “used to” sentences
« on: January 22, 2018, 05:40:59 PM »
Every now and then, I post on Facebook and Twitter little quick quizzes on grammar and usage. I then provide a link to the correct answer in Jose Carillo’s English Forum, which has already built up a sizeable online learning resource on English since it started in May of 2009.

Surprisingly, a quick quiz that I posted sometime in March of 2014 registered 116 responses on Facebook and 52 on Twitter, or over three times the average. The question: “Which negative ‘used to’ construction is correct? ‘They (didn’t used to be, didn’t use to be, used not to be) very close friends.’”

This, I think, indicates a need for this usage to be clarified even more widely among English learners and teachers alike, so I’m presenting below an abridgment of the column that I wrote explaining it way back in 2005, “‘Used to’ and other grammar trippers.”

                       IMAGE CREDIT: FREE-POWER-POINT-TEMPLATES.COM
THE AMERICAN ENGLISH PRESCRIPTION FOR “USED TO” USAGE
                     
Most of us feel comfortable with using the form “used to + verb” for a past condition or habitual practice, as in these sentences: “They used to be very close friends.” “She used to jog early in the morning.” In the first, “used to” conveys the idea of a past activity or condition that’s no longer true; in the second, “used to” conveys the idea of an old habit that had already stopped. In both cases, we’re hardly in any danger of stumbling in our grammar because “used to” is clearly functioning as it should—as an auxiliary verb affirming the sense of a past action or state of affairs that had already ceased.

But using “used to” in negative and interrogative statements, which both require the form to take the auxiliary verb “did,” raises serious questions about its grammatical validity. Indeed, how should the two “used to” sentences above be rendered in the negative? For the first, do we say, “They didn’t used to be very close friends” (“used” with the “d”) or “They didn’t use to be very close friends” (“use” without the “d”)? And for the second, do we say, “She didn’t used to jog early in the morning” or “She didn’t use to jog early in the morning”?

Then again, how do we put the two “used to” sentences in question form? For the first, do we say, “Did they used to be very close friends?” or “Did they use to be very close friends?” And for the second, do we say, “Did she used to jog early in the morning?” or “Did she use to jog early in the morning?”

The American English prescription is straightforward: take out the “d” from the verb in “used to” when this form works with the auxiliary verb “did” in negative and interrogative statements. Thus, the correct usage for negative “used to” statements is “They didn’t use to be very close friends,” and for questions, “Did they use to be very close friends?”

THE AMERICAN ENGLISH PRESCRIPTION FOR “BE USED TO” USAGE

Some grammarians frown on the American English prescription, though. They argue that since “used to” exists only in the past tense, its negative and interrogative forms can’t possibly take the auxiliary verb “do.” To them, therefore, both the negative constructions “They didn’t used to be very close friends” and “They didn’t use to be very close friends” are not acceptable, and neither are the interrogative constructions “Did she used to jog early in the morning?” and “Did she use to jog early in the morning?”

Instead, for negative “used to” constructions, these grammarians prescribe “They used not to be very close friends,” and for interrogative “used to” constructions, either “Used she not to jog early in the morning?” or “Was she not used to jogging early in the morning?”

American English is the Philippine standard, however, so we need to follow its prescription for “used to” for consistency’s sake—but I think we really shouldn’t turn a totally blind eye to the virtues of the contrary prescription even if we don’t use it. (2014)
  
This essay, 887th in the series, first appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the April 5, 2014 issue of The Manila Times, © 2014 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2018, 05:50:26 PM by Joe Carillo »