grammar

[tipu s]

Which ones are better
1-"Did he use to come here?"
OR
"Used he to come here?
2-"He did not use to come here"
OR
"He used not to come here?

 

[lauralie2]

1a-Did he use to come here? :tick:
1b-Used he to come here? :cross:
2a-He did not use to come here. :tick:
2b-He used not to come here? :cross:

 

[mehdihas]

In both 1 and to the first sentence is correct.

 

[5jj]

We've had this discussion on another thread, but unfortunately I can't find it.

Used he to is rare these days, but is considered the correct form by older prescriptivists. I find that I still use it.

Did he use to is generally considered correct today.

Did he used to is incorrect, but I have seen it several times in print, even in more serious newspapers. This is perhaps because in speech this incorrect form is pronounced in exactly the same way as the correct form. As the interrogative form of 'used to' is not common, people have confused the sounds and spellings.

It's similar with the negative:
He used not to is fairly rare, but considered the correct form by some.
He didn't use to is generally considered correct.
He didn't used to is incorrect, but you'll see it.

 

[corum]

Quirk says this:
'Used to' is a marginal modal. Its status is intermediate on the gradient running between auxiliary verbs and main verbs.

Used to denotes a habit or a state that existed in the past, and is therefore semantically not so much a modal auxiliary as an auxiliary of tense and aspect. In formal terms, however, it fits the marginal modal category.

It always takes the to-infinitive and only occurs in the past tense.
Used to occurs both as an operator and with DO-support. In the latter case the spellings 'use to' and 'used to' both occur, reflecting the speakers' uncertainty of the status of this verb: an uncertainty, that is, as to whether it is to be treated as an invariable form, like a modal auxiliary; or as a form with an infinitive,
like a full verb.

In the negative, the operator construction is preferred by many in BrE:

He usen't to smoke.
He used not to smoke.

These are preferred in BrE and AmE:

He didn't use to smoke.
He didn't used to smoke.

The construction did . . . use to is preferred to other constructions in both AmE and BrE. The spelling did. . . used to, however, is often regarded as nonstandard. The interrogative operator construction, for example this:
Used he to smoke?
is rare even in BrE. Tag questions also normally have DO-support.

A perfective form of used to, had used to, is occasionally attested.

There is a tendency for speakers to avoid the problem of negating 'used to' by employing the negative adverb never: I never used to watch television.

 

[Barb_D]

Quirk says this:
These are preferred in BrE and AmE:

He didn't use to smoke.
He didn't used to smoke.

I find that shocking!

The construction did . . . use to is preferred to other constructions in both AmE and BrE.

The spelling did. . . used to, however, is often regarded as nonstandard.

That is more in line with my expectations.

I admit, I used to mess this up a lot because I type what I hear in my head, and "used to" sounds like "use to" but I've always had it corrected by others when I did.

 

[5jj]

I admit, I used to mess this up a lot because I type what I hear in my head, and "used to" sounds like "use to" but I've always had it corrected by others when I did.

And you are a professional writer who is 'a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English'.;-)

That is not intended as a snide remark. My point in making it is that if you usedn't/didn't use(d) to get it right, it is not really shocking that so many otherwise reasonably proficient speakers get it wrong.

 

[Barb_D]

I am not shocked that people make the mistake. I am shocked that a respected book lists what I consider to be an error as preferred.

 

[philo2009]

Perhaps a brief summary of possible standard forms might be in order at this point:

He used to V (Br & AmE)
He didn't use to V (Br & AmE)
He used not to V (formal Br & AmE)
He usedn't to V (archaic BrE)
Did he use to V? (Br & AmE)
Did he not use to V? (Formal Br & AmE)
Didn't he use to V? (Br & AmE)
Usedn't he to V? (archaic BrE)

For ease for reference, the most generally usable forms are shown in bold type and the least advisable in italics.

 

[Tdol]

I am not sure that Quirk is completely right to say that didn't used is preferred in BrE; it exists, but I think its status is more questionable than that. But then again, who am I to disagree.... ;-)

 

[philo2009]

I am not sure that Quirk is completely right to say that didn't used is preferred in BrE; it exists, but I think its status is more questionable than that. But then again, who am I to disagree.... ;-)

He doesn't (of course!) He says that, while did he use to? is preferred in all varieties of English to used he to?, many BrE speakers will still prefer he used not to (the 'operator construction') to he didn't use to. (Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, p.140)

I somehow suspect that this was rather truer twenty-odd years ago, when the CGEL was compiled, than it would be today (see my reference list above for what, in my humble opinion, constitutes a more realistic picture of contemporary usage).

One slightly perplexing thing on this same page of the great tome, however, is Quirk's citing of ?"usen't" as another possible BrE equivalent of didn't use (to), a form that makes about as much sense as *musn't (as opposed to mustn't) as a contraction of must not or as *wern't as that of were not.

On the basis that even Homer nods, I will give the great master the benefit of the doubt and account it a typo!

 

[5jj]

I am not shocked that people make the mistake. I am shocked that a respected book lists what I consider to be an error as preferred.

Surely he was just recording (at the time), what was preferred by users, not by Quirk himself. He did also write, "The spelling did. . . used to, however, is often regarded as nonstandard."

Quirk and his colleagues did their best to record what they found; they also said, where appropriate, that certain forms were considered (by other writers and by general opinion as they found it) to be non-standard.They never attempted to say what was right or wrong, only what was acceptable (in that people said it) or unacceptable (in that people did not say it).