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Is it proper to say something "used" to be a certain way? Not sure how the word used should be used.

Holly
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  • Possible duplicate of http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30035/i-use-to-or-i-used-to – Lumberjack Oct 04 '13 at 17:44
  • It isn't a word. It's an idiom and has to be followed by to; the two are locked together and have a special pronunciation: /'yustə/, with an /s/, never /'yuzdtə/ with a /z/, which is how used is pronounced. There are two such idioms. One is an auxiliary that takes an infinitive (I used to be a pilot), asserts truth in the past, and presupposes falsity in the present. The other is a predicate adjective meaning 'accustomed, familiar', needs an auxiliary be like any predicate adjective, and takes a noun object or a gerund, but not an infinitive (I'm used to flying/*fly). – John Lawler Oct 04 '13 at 17:48
  • @JohnLawler: Can you just post that as an answer? – MrHen Oct 04 '13 at 17:51
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    @JohnLawler Note however that the second vowel is for many speakers /u/ when it's terminal (I don't fly now, but I used to) or when precedes an unstressed syllable (I'm used to it by now). – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 04 '13 at 19:00
  • @JohnLawler I'm familiar with the 'yuzdtə pronunciation in British English hereabouts. It is pronounced this way at http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html ( "He used to go to the pictures.") (UK English) – Edwin Ashworth Oct 04 '13 at 19:46
  • I'm not even sure if this is a duplicate, because I'm not sure what the question is at all. Any dictionary will contain the word, likely complete with examples. Of course it is proper to say something used to be a certain way, if that is what you want to say. However, it is not proper if you want to say something else entirely. Please flesh out your question. You can't just ask, "how should I use the word car" and leave it at that. Thank you. – RegDwigнt Oct 04 '13 at 21:19
  • The point is that the word used /yuzd/ already has a regular use /yus/ and pronunciation, while the two quite different idioms used to /yustə/, which are more common, may well not be cited or described accurately in a dictionary. There are far more idioms than words in English, after all, and no dictionary can do justice to them all, one by one. Alphabetic order alone forfends. – John Lawler Oct 04 '13 at 21:58

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