Grammar

Verbs
Used to

Used to vs would

Used to do vs used to doing

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Used to do vs would
"What is the different between used to and would?"
We can use both used to and would to talk about repeated events and actions in the past:

My grandfather used to/would walk five kilometres each morning.

She would/used to bake a big chocolate cake every Sunday.

If you want to talk about repeated states in the past, you must use used to:
He used to be a baker (NOT He would be )
I used to have a black cat called Maisy (NOT I would have )
This is only one use of the word would. It can be used in many other ways as well.
For more information about the use of used to and would see the following websites:
http://members.nbci.com/afonichev/murphy/unit0018.html
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/065.html
For many examples of the use of used to and would, see the Web Concordancer:
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/scripts/concordance/WWWConcappE.htm
Type used to or would into the 'search string' field, select any corpus in the 'select corpus' field, and then
click on the 'search for concordances' button.

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Used to do vs used to doing
The use of used to do is dealt with above. Used to doing, or be used to doing has a different meaning.
We use it to talk about things that are familiar, and not strange or new:
It took him a while until he was used to driving on the left-hand side of the road.
I am used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.
Note that this structure can be followed by a noun or noun phrase, as well as an ing form:
We live near the airport, so we are used to the noise of planes.
John lived in Mexico, so he is used to very hot food.
Apart from the verb to be, the verbs get, grow and become can also be used before used to doing. They
are used to describe the process that leads to something being familiar. The first example above was:
It took him a while until he was used to driving on the left-hand side of the road.
When he first arrived in England, he wasn't used to driving on the left-hand side of the road. But after a
while, in which he was practising his driving (getting used to driving on the left), he ended up being familiar
with it. See these other examples:
She grew used to him staying up late at night and working.
The gorilla eventually became used to its new cage.
For more information on this structure, see the following websites:
http://members.nbci.com/afonichev/murphy/unit0060.html

To see examples of the use of used to doing in context, have a look at the Web Concordancer:
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/scripts/concordance/WWWConcappE.htm
Type any of the following words: be, am, is, are, was, were or been, get, got, become, became, grow,
grew or grown + used to + any common ing form into the 'search string' field, select any corpus in the
'select corpus' field, and then click on the 'search for concordances' button.

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