Used to/would:The difference in the meaning.

[symaa]

Hello everybody,

So, I have to examples:

1-Her mother used to beat her sister.
2-Her mother would beat her sister.


1-the speaker disapproves this fact, as "used to" expresses most of the time bad habits.

2-The speaker do not think that is a bad thing.

Could you please tell me if is it correct?


I have another question, as a native speaker, do you use this structure in more formal spoken and written English, I have read that is rarely used.

*...used not to ...........

*Used ....to ...?.

Have a nice day,

Thank you in advance

[nyota]

.......................
I'm not a teacher
.......................

Hello everybody,

So, I have to examples:

1-Her mother used to beat her sister.
2-Her mother would beat her sister.


1-the speaker disapproves this fact, as "used to" expresses most of the time bad habits.

2-The speaker do not think that is a bad thing.

Could you please tell me if is it correct?

Not quite. Used to and would are similar. You use them to talk about past habits and typical behaviour. When stressed, would expresses the speaker's annoyance at the habits e.g. She would keep talking when I just wanted to go home.

The difference is that only used to is used to talk about states e.g.
I used to be much slimmer when I was younger.
I would be much slimmer when i was younger.

Source: Side & Wellman, Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge Advanced and Proficiency

I have another question, as a native speaker, do you use this structure in more formal spoken and written English, I have read that is rarely used.


...used not to ...........

Used ....to .

I used to like her.
I didn't use to like her.
I used not to like her (more formal).

Source: Swan & Walter, How English Works.

[symaa]

Thank you very much for youranswer, and I totally agree with you in your nice examples.

1-Her mother used to beat her sister.
2-Her mother would beat her sister.
1-the speaker disapproves this fact, as "used to" expresses most of the time bad habits.
2-The speaker do not think that is a bad thing

It is my teacher who said that, but when I was reading in grammar books I did not find anything like this difference between would and used to in the meaning.

All the best for you.

[Rover_KE]

'My mother used to beat me' could be a stand-alone sentence: a plain statement of fact.

'My mother would beat me' needs something further to make sense, such as '...when she was drunk', '...every Friday'.

Rover

[symaa]

'My mother used to beat me' could be a stand-alone sentence: a plain statement of fact.

'My mother would beat me' needs something further to make sense, such as '...when she was drunk', '...every Friday'.

Rover

Thank you very much teacher for your answer, as I mention before It is my grammar teacher who gave as this explanation, so it s wrong.

Respectfully yours.