[Grammar] Use or Used, In context

[HanibalII]

Pretty simple confusion :S


Sentence.....
"I use to like to drive"
"I used to like to drive"

At first I thought "used" because that infers an action.



It's gotten me a little confused.

 

[5jj]

"I use to like to drive." :cross:
"I used to like to drive." :tick:

There is no present-tense form of this verb.

 

[HanibalII]

Ok, but used in another structure:
"I used the shovel"
"I use the shovel"

You have past tense and present tense. What makes that different in this structure?

 

[5jj]

Ok, but used in another structure:
"I used the shovel"
"I use the shovel"

You have past tense and present tense. What makes that different in this structure?

We have two completely different verbs. 'used to'/ pronounced with /st/ is an anomalous verb, existing only in the one form. 'Use' is a full verb with all the usual forms, include 'used', pronounced with /zd/. It has a completely different meaning. There are also the forms 'be/get used to', pronounced with /st/ which have yet another meaning.

I used to be unable to use chopsticks. When I went to work in China, I soon got used to using them.

 

[HanibalII]

We have two completely different verbs. 'used to'/ pronounced with /st/ is an anomalous verb, existing only in the one form. 'Use' is a full verb with all the usual forms, include 'used', pronounced with /zd/. It has a completely different meaning. There are also the forms 'be/get used to', pronounced with /st/ which have yet another meaning.

I used to be unable to use chopsticks. When I went to work in China, I soon got used to using them.

Not sure if helped....Or made me more confused...

Think I get it though. Both have different meanings!

Thanks

 

[5jj]

use verb (PURPOSE) - definition in British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionary Online
used to - definition. American English definition of used to by Macmillan Dictionary

 

[birdeen's call]

There is no present-tense form of this verb.

Perhaps it would be better to say that there isn't one in modern parlance. Here's a 19th-century example:

Mr. Lorriby was not of the sort of schoolmasters whom men use to denominate by the title of knock-down and drag out.

This is archaic now.