[Vocabulary] 'use' denoting customs

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mmasny

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The following sentences come from Merriam-Webster:

Sit here by the window with your hand in mine ... both of one mind, as married people use. (Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning : The Poetry Foundation [poem] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.)

He does not use to be last on these occasions.
(Full text of "Lillo's dramatic works, with memoirs of the author")

Use to have tallyho parties out on the ... pike when we where young. Anne G. Winslow

If he didn't quit using around there she would make trouble for him.
(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (chapter6))

I think I don't understand the third one and I can't find the context, as you can see. I can't get it why she used 'use' in the present tense.

How often can these things be encountered in modern speech and writing? On what occasions?

Can I put the word "wont" in the place of "use" in the first sentence?
 

susiedqq

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"Use to" means formerlly, in the past.

I use to have blond hair, but it turned brown when I got older.

She use to have parties in my apartment before she moved.


Sometimes people will abbreviate it:

Use to date him . . .
 

mmasny

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"Use to" means formerlly, in the past.

I use to have blond hair, but it turned brown when I got older.

She use to have parties in my apartment before she moved.


Sometimes people will abbreviate it:

Use to date him . . .
What you have said is very confusing to me. Did you really mean 'use to' or did you mean 'used to'?

I'm quite sure that in the examples given above it doesn't mean 'in the past'. Can you refer to them somehow, please?
 

Raymott

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What you have said is very confusing to me. Did you really mean 'use to' or did you mean 'used to'?

I'm quite sure that in the examples given above it doesn't mean 'in the past'. Can you refer to them somehow, please?
I'm pretty sure susie meant 'used to'
I can't answer your questions. Both 'wont' and 'use' (in this context) rarely occur in modern English.
From a reader's perspective, when reading older literature it's usually adequate to get a sense of what is meant, without having to compare the uses of two obsolete words or use them productively.

PS: You could add 'list'. "... as married couples list."
 
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