a little bit more about Boxing Day

Hello guys. How r u?

Here is a little about Used to, with Boxing day for u ;)

Have fun =)

Teacher Andreza Ferro

Used to Habits from the past that have stopped are talked about with ‘used to + infintive’.

Used to + infintive

Examples:

People used to donate money to the local poor.

Boxing dayused to be called Offering Day.

Retailers used to start their sales on Boxing Day.

This tells us that a REPEATED ACTION (a habit) from the past has stopped now.

Boxing dayused to be called Offering Day.

(It’s not called Offering Day anymore)

Retailers used to start their sales on Boxing Day

(Retailers don’t start their sales on Boxing Day now. This action stopped. Now they start earlier, before Xmas.)

Negative: didn’t use to + infinitive

The Romans didn’t use to collect money for charity.

The boxes didn’t use to be made of wood.

Notice that with the negative form, the ‘d’ is deleted from the end of ‘used’. However, the pronunication (when you say it) is exactly the same!!!

This is the same when you ask a question…

Interrogative:  did (subject) use to  +  infinitive….?

Did the Romans use to collect money for taxes?

Did the boxes use to be made of wood?

Listen to the same pronunciation of used to/use to in every form.

(positive) He used to have long hair when he was 16.

(negative) He didn’t use to have long hair when he was 12.

(question)Did he use to have long hair when he was a child?

Common Mistakes with ‘used to’

1. I used to live in Berlin since 2009. I still live there.

(This is wrong because ‘used to’ describes something in the past that has STOPPED. In this example, the ‘living in Berlin’ is still continuing. The correct way to say it would be with the Present Perfect/Present Perfect continuous, e.g. I have been living in Berlin since 2009.)

2. He used to driving to work every day when he lived in Oxford.

(This is wrong because after ‘used to’ when describing the past, you must use the infinitive.

If you say something like…

I am used to speaking German now after living in Berlin for 3 years

(to be  +  used to  +  -ing)

This means that you are happy/comfortable with a situation now…it’s not a problem for you anymore.

source: http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/used-to-boxing-day/