Rob, who used to play video games, discusses the usage of 'used to' in positive and negative sentences and questions, providing pronunciation tips. The podcast explores the meaning and contextual usage of 'used to' to indicate past habits and actions, distinguishing it from the past simple and discussing the negative form. Additionally, it teaches how to form questions with 'used to' and provides resources for further information.
'Used to' indicates regular or repeated past activities, while 'did not used to' talks about past states that changed in the present.
'Used to' questions follow the structure 'did + subject + used to + infinitive'.
Deep dives
Using 'used to' for past regular activities
The podcast discusses the phrase 'used to' and how it indicates that someone did an activity regularly or repeatedly in the past. For example, Petra used to eat junk food but now she eats salads. This phrase is often used when the present situation is different from the past. It can also describe a past state or situation, such as 'I used to live in Japan, but now I live in London'. For describing an activity that happened just once in the past, the past simple tense is used.
Negatives and questions with 'used to'
The podcast also covers using 'did not used to' for talking about past states and activities that didn't happen in the past, but they do now. For example, 'My sisters didn't used to talk much, but now they speak every day'. In negative sentences and questions, 'used' is spelled without the 'd'. Additionally, the podcast explains that questions with 'used to' follow the structure 'did + subject + used to + infinitive', such as 'Which school did you use to go to?'. The quiz section tests the spelling and usage of 'used to' in various sentence examples.