The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Modals to express habits: WILL, WOULD, USED TO

Present

Would can express annoying habits which are typical of a person:

Tom

would do

something like that,

wouldn't

he? It's so typical of him!

Will is used to emphasise the characteristics of a person rather than describing the person himself or herself:

A friend

will

always

help

you.

(this is one of the characteristics of a friend)

Past

USED TO

Used to refers to past habits and states which were true in the past but are not true any more. It can be used with both action verbs and state verbs:

On Sundays, my parents

used to take

me to dance school.

(habit, action verb)

I

used to hate

dancing in those days.

(state, state verb)

The negative and interrogative forms of used to are:

I

didn't use to like

dancing in those days.

Why did you use to hate

dancing?

Used to + infinitive should not be confused with be/get used to + gerund (verb-ing):

She

used to live

alone in a small apartment.

(it was true in the past, but not any more)

She

was used to living

alone in a small apartment.

(she was accustomed to it)

She

got used to living

alone in a small apartment.

(she became accustomed to it)

WOULD

Would describes repeated past actions but not states. It can only be used with action verbs:

From time to time, he

would call

her to ask if she wanted to meet for lunch.

USED TO or WOULD?

With action verbs, often either used to or would is possible:

On Sundays, my parents

used to take

me to dance school.

On Sundays, my parents

would take

me to dance school.

With state verbs, however, only used to is possible:

*I

would hate

dancing in those days.

I

used to hate

dancing in those days.

Quotes:

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want. - Mignon McLaughlin