Page 627 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

604 used + infinitive
1 meaning
We use used + infinitive to talk about past habits and states which are now finished.
I used to smoke, but now I've stopped. (NOT I I:tHitS used t6 sm6ke ...) That bingo hall used to be a cinema.
past habits and states which are now finished
I used to smoke, but now I've stoJrJpe'fl.
2 only past
Used to ... has no present form (and no progressive, perfect, infinitive or -ing forms). To talk about present habits and states, we usually just use the simple present tense (see 462).
He smokes. (NOT He uses t6 sm6ke.) Her brother still collects stamps.
3 questions and negatives
When questions and negatives are written, they often have did . .. used instead of did ... use.
What did people use(d) to do in the evenings before TV?
I didn't use(d) to like opera, but now I do. The contraction usedn't is also possible.
I usedn't to like opera.
But the most common negative is never used . ...
I never used to like opera.
In a formal style, questions and negatives without do are possible, but these are not very common.
I used not to like opera, but now I do. (OR I used to not like opera ...)
Used you to play football at school?
These forms are not used in tags.
You used not to like him, did you? (NOT ••• used Y61ti')
4 when used to ... is not used
Used to refers to things that happened at an earlier stage of one's life and are now finished: there is an idea that circumstances have changed. It is not used simply to say what happened at a past time, or how long it took, or how many times it happened.
1 worked very hard last month. (NOT I used t6 W6rie very hard l:ttst 'U6rtth.) I lived in Chester for three years. (NOT " used t6 lilH! in Chester J~r three
yMf'S.)
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used + infinitive 604
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