These questions ask you to separate former habits and states from present familiarity or the process of becoming familiar. First decide what the sentence means; only then choose the construction and the form that follows it.
Choose by meaning, verb class and time contrast
Begin with the meaning. If the sentence contrasts an earlier situation with now and presents that situation as finished, use used to plus the base form. This works for both repeated actions and states such as possession, identity, existence and residence.
Would also introduces a base form, but it has a narrower job. Use it for actions that happened repeatedly after the past period has been established by wording such as every summer, on winter mornings or during school holidays. Do not use habitual would for a state. Unlike used to, would does not by itself say that the repeated action has stopped.
| Meaning signal | Form to build |
|---|---|
| A past habit or state is presented as no longer true | used to plus the base form |
| A dynamic action recurred in a clearly established past period | would plus the base form; use used to instead if discontinuation must be explicit |
| Something is familiar or normal to the subject | be used to plus a noun or an -ing form |
| The subject becomes or has become familiar with something | get used to plus a noun or an -ing form, with get inflected for the required time |
Where the forms can mislead you
| Tempting pattern | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Would beside a verb of possession, identity, existence or residence | Habitual would needs a repeated dynamic action. For a discontinued state, choose used to or, when discontinuation is not being tested, the past simple. |
| An -ing form directly after used to when the sentence describes an old routine | The past-habit construction takes the base form. The -ing pattern belongs after be used to or get used to when the meaning is familiarity. |
| A base form after be used to or get used to | Here to is a preposition, so it must be followed by a noun or an -ing form. Check whether the sentence means familiar or becoming familiar. |
| Would chosen merely because an action happened repeatedly | Check what the wording claims about the present. If the construction itself must mark the routine as finished, would is too weak and used to is required. |
Use a final three-part check: state or action, finished or merely remembered, and habit or familiarity. Then verify the complement: a base form follows used to and habitual would, while a noun or an -ing form follows the familiarity constructions.
Try it
Complete the sentence with the construction that itself signals a discontinued past state, using the verb in brackets: Niko lives in Bristol now, but he ___ (live) in a cottage near York.
Select all sentences that use used to or would correctly.
- When I was a student, I would own an old delivery van.
- There used to be a bookshop beside the market, but it closed years ago.
- On winter mornings, Grandad would feed the ducks before breakfast.
- After years as a porter, Kim is used to carry heavy cases.
After six months in the new flat, the trains no longer disturb Salma. She ___ next to a railway line.
- used to live
- would live
- has been getting used to live
- is used to living