A question about gramma (English)

[Mike375]

We use to live at......

I use to own....

or

We used to live at......

I used to own....

I have used "use to" but was told it should be "used to"

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

It's meant to be: used to.

The reason use to is common is that in spoken form, the D sound often gets dropped or merged into the T sound that follows it - and people hearing this (especially kids) acquire the habit of writing it as it sounds.

Same sort of thing with 'could have' - because people tend to say it as "could've", many people mistakenly write it as 'could of'

 

[Mike375]

Thanks for the response

I made the same post on an Australian guns/hunting forum. Below is first response and my query and as you can see first respose was the same as your answer.

-----------------------------------

Use is present tense, used to is past tense, so if it is something done in the past it is used.

Unless it it prefaced with did, example: Did you use to live at....

Yes, I used to live there but now I don't.

---------------------------------------------

That is basically the example I have seen. However, my feeling is the context of "I use to own" is like "Did you use to own"

As a side note I use to use used but was told "use to" instead of "used to"

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

I'm not sure about that, and in any case, I would probably avoid 'did you use[d] to' altogether in favour of something that feels less awkward ('did you once own...', perhaps)

 

[namliam]

use to

Note the double T sound of useD To, the concattenated languege useto or use to...

Languages seem to simplify a lot like that, removing silent letters or concattenating words that dont really belong together.

Note: dont, I dont imagine anyone would frown upon its use now. How ever that is supposed to be "do not"

Same thing happening to Dutch / France and German that I know... More and more too am I seeing SMS/MSN-lingo showing up... I have found post-its in the business saying
w8 ff bb asap, which is msn for Wait a minute please I will be back as soon as possible.

 

[Mike375]

Note: dont, I dont imagine anyone would frown upon its use now. How ever that is supposed to be "do not"

In business would have to be don't as it has been since whenever.

I have found post-its in the business saying
w8 ff bb asap, which is msn for Wait a minute please I will be back as soon as possible.

Have never seen that in Australian business and doubly so from the seller or supplier

 

[Rabbie]

Note: dont, I dont imagine anyone would frown upon its use now. How ever that is supposed to be "do not"

"Dont" or correctly "Don't" is a compression of do not which reflects the common pronounciation. Commonly used in spoken English it is becoming more frequent in written English now.

 

[Fifty2One]

Also people learning the language have difficulty with the spelling for the same reason on trying to phonetically spell words or vice versa.
The apostrophe is also difficult as some written languages the ' represents a glottal stop rather then a contraction.

It's meant to be: used to.

The reason use to is common is that in spoken form, the D sound often gets dropped or merged into the T sound that follows it - and people hearing this (especially kids) acquire the habit of writing it as it sounds.

Same sort of thing with 'could have' - because people tend to say it as "could've", many people mistakenly write it as 'could of'

 

[Rich]

"Dont" or correctly "Don't" is a compression of do not which reflects the common pronounciation. Commonly used in spoken English it is becoming more frequent in written English now.

Ah I remember my teachers being quite clear on the subject, there's no such word as can't, don't etc.,etc.

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

I thought No such word as can't was just an exhortation not to give up easily.

 

[Rabbie]

It seems that spelling as well as grammar is an area on which Mike needs to brush up.

 

[Thales750]

use to

Note the double T sound of useD To, the concattenated languege useto or use to...

Languages seem to simplify a lot like that, removing silent letters or concattenating words that dont really belong together.

Note: dont, I dont imagine anyone would frown upon its use now. How ever that is supposed to be "do not"

Same thing happening to Dutch / France and German that I know... More and more too am I seeing SMS/MSN-lingo showing up... I have found post-its in the business saying
w8 ff bb asap, which is msn for Wait a minute please I will be back as soon as possible.

I won't respond to anyone using that kind of language in business. Or I might ask them if they are an idiot to their face. Verbally of course.

 

[DCrake]

Some of you may have seen this before but those who have'nt:

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publikenthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

David

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

I have found post-its in the business saying
w8 ff bb asap, which is msn for Wait a minute please I will be back as soon as possible.

I could work out most of it, but how does 'ff' translate to 'a minute'?

 

[Groundrush]

Ah I remember my teachers being quite clear on the subject, there's no such word as can't, don't etc.,etc.

I can't remember my teachers telling me that

 

[Thales750]

I can't remember my teachers telling me that

Of course yours had to take a break from hunting dinosours.

 

[namliam]

I could work out most of it, but how does 'ff' translate to 'a minute'?

ff = even (in dutch) even then translates into a minute of a second...

 

[Kryst51]

I thought No such word as can't was just an exhortation not to give up easily.

And a double negative too!

 

[Mike375]

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publikenthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.


David

That is great.

 

[Kryst51]

That is great.

I Concur