Making question and negative form with "used to"

Question

According to the various grammar books that I have read, the question and negative , with "used to" starting with "did" has two forms. One for example is "Did he used to smoke Cigars?" and the other is "Did he use to smoke cigars?". I would just like to know which form is correct and widely used.

What's the negation of “I used to be”? Surely not “I didn't used to be”? Is “Didn't used to have been” a valid structure? Alternatives to the common construction “didn't used to” Rhetorical questions with “used to” and the related questions linked from these. — RegDwigнt, Apr 23 '14 at 08:35

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

1

"Did he use to smoke cigars?"

"Yes, he did (use to smoke cigar)." Or "No, he didn't (use to smoke cigars)."

"Did he used to" and "he didn't used to" are merely ungrammatical variations.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Apr 23 '14 at 08:25

Elian

43,007

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 08:19

The idiom is Used to. The formal (British) negative version is I used not to smoke cigars but if you want to use did, you need to drop the d as in Did he use to smoke?

The Did use to is considered informal

http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/azar/grammar_ex/message_board/archive/articles/00074.htm

Making question and negative form with "used to"

2 Answers2