USED TO / WOULD

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Modal verbs 'used to' and 'would'

Both  'would' and ‘used to’ describe actions or situations in the past that were repeated over and over and over again that we don't do now or that are not happening now.

Ex: 'used to' and ‘would’ both OK:                             √ = OK sentence

√1.       When he was at school, he used to play soccer every Saturday."

√a.       When he was at school, he would play soccer every Saturday."

√2.       She used to visit her grandmother after school.

√2a.     She would visit her grandmother after school.

√3.       I used to ride my horse every day when I lived in Riyadh.

√3a.     I would ride my horse every day when I lived in Riyadh.

All of these sentences describe SINGLE REPEATED actions or situations in the past, which are finished now.

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2.         USED TO ≠ WOULD    DO NOT USE WOULD

We only use ‘used to’ NOT ‘would’ to describe extended actions or situations in the past.  These are general situations that do not occur as single repeated actions.

            He used to be a boxer.  (in general in the past)

                                               

He used to live in Boston.

                                               

I used to have a Toyota.

I used to love her.

Summary

'Would' and ‘used to’ = individual actions or situations that were repeated many times;

'Used to' =                   any action or situation that continued for a period of time in the past, including individual repeated actions or situations.

Timeline

   Used to / would    ~    in the past

past                                                                             present
repeated actions/situation in the past
__________________________________________x____

                                    *          *          *          *          * (used to/would)

                                    I used to/would             go to the market every Saturday.

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                    (not a single repeated action – a constant situation – all the time)

                                    Use only USED TO because it is not a single action that occurs repeatedly, it is a general situation or condition.

                                    Table in my house         I used to have a special table in my house.

                                    Profession                    I used to be a firefighter.

Great example today from Ken:

I used to have a girlfriend and I would kiss her everyday.  ♥

Having the girlfriend was a general condition, not a repeated single activity. USED TO

Kissing the girlfriend occurred every day.  WOULD