used to ....problem

[duiter]

Hi all,

One English magazine says that you can NOT use “used to” to talk about how often something happened or how long it took. For example:
a) INCORRECT: I used to go to Germany seven times.
CORRECT: I went to Germany seven times.
b) INCORRECT: She used to live in New York for six years.
CORRECT: She lived in New York for six years

Why is that ?

I came across a sentence in another magazine : I always used to go to church
but'always' is also adverb of how often

thanks

 

[fighting spirit]

The Past Simple Tense - how many times you did something

Used to - indefinite past, expressing a habit

 

[corum]

a) INCORRECT: I used to go to Germany seven times.
CORRECT: I went to Germany seven times.

b) INCORRECT: She used to live in New York for six years.
CORRECT: She lived in New York for six years

Swan, PEU (1995):

Used to refers to things that happened at an earlier stage of one'life and are now finished: there is an idea that circumstances have changed. It is not used simply to say what happened at a past time, or how long it took, or how many times it happened

 

[corum]

Used to - indefinite past, expressing a habit

The same holds true for the simple past.

 

[fighting spirit]

The same holds true for the simple past.

Well, it's more likely to use Past Simple when you know when exactly something happened.

Used to - not used to say how many times you did something and for how long.