Used to and Would

Used to and Would. Worksheets on Vocabulary. Vocabulary Worksheets for ESL. Free eBook and Free printable PDF.

Used to and Would

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Used to and Would

They are both used to describe something that happened regularly in the past but doesn’t happen any longer:

1. I used to smoke, but I quit last year. 
2. Whenever I craved a cigarette, I would chew gum instead. 

Would should not be used unless it has already been established that the time frame is in the past, while used to does not require this. 

• I used to watch cartoons every Saturday morning when I was very little. Now I rarely watch TV.

But if the past time frame is established before would appears, would sounds fine. 

• When I was little, I would get up and watch cartoons every Saturday morning. Now I rarely watch TV.

The second difference between used to and would is that would is not used with stative verbs such as love, be, understand, and feel.

1. When I was a student, I used to love sleeping late on the weekends. (natural and grammatical)
2. *When I was a student, I would love sleeping late on weekends. (awkward and ungrammatical)

To summarize, the use of would is more restricted than that of used to. Therefore, if you aren’t sure which one to use, it’s best to choose used to. 

Exercises

EXERCISE 1.

Put ‘used to’ + verb in the following sentences. Where possible re-write the sentence using ‘would’.

1. When you were a child, where _________________________  (you/live)?
2. Did you ___________________________ ( like) living there?
3. How did you _____________________________ (spend) your long summer holidays?
4. I ____________________________ (go) to the small river by my house and swim and play with my friends.
5. I ___________________________ (not/have) many friends because I moved house and city often.
6. Who _________________________ (be) your best friend?
7. My sister. We _____________________________ (play) for hours and hours together.
8. Didn’t your sister ____________________ (play) an instrument?
9. Yes, she __________________________ (play) the flute. Now she has given up playing the flute because she doesn’t have time.
10. She _________________________ (listen) to music all day long and we _______________ (sing) all the songs we knew.
11. We __________________________ (not/do) our homework until after dinner. Our mother ____________________ (help) us.
12. Did you _________________________ (get) good marks at school?
13. Not really, we _____________________________ (not/study) very much.

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