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Is it ok to use “I used to live in London for three years.”? I feel a bit strange to use “I used to...” and “for...”.

Jane
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1 Answers1

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I think native speakers prefer to say I lived in London for three years

Non native speakers tend to use used to when simple past serves the purpose.

I used to live in London for three years

Both the sentences mean almost the same thing and talk about the completed actions in the past and also past habits.

I here with attach a link to show how used to can be used.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/used-to

Jvlnarasimharao
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    Not quite - https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/72187/i-lived-vs-i-used-to-live/72205#72205 – Justin Sep 14 '19 at 17:03
  • Different grammar books say differently – Jvlnarasimharao Sep 14 '19 at 17:06
  • I used to live in London for three years and I lived in London for three years mean the same thing for even native speakers. We need not go very deep in to the matter when a learner wants to clarify their question – Jvlnarasimharao Sep 14 '19 at 17:10
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    Saying that they both mean the same allows the OP to use "used to live", which is very redundant and it isn't very common in written English. I would suggest mentioning that the OP should use "lived" more frequently than "used to live". – Justin Sep 14 '19 at 17:14
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    "I used to live in London for three years" does not sound natural to me. It suggests the speaker would live in London for three years at a time. So 3 years in London, then somewhere else, then another 3 years in London and so on. Similarly, "I used to go to the gym for three hours". – Weather Vane Sep 14 '19 at 18:24
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    I lived in London for three years. After that I lived in Bristol, where I told people 'I used to live in London, but now I live here'. – Michael Harvey Sep 14 '19 at 18:33
  • "I used to live in London. I was there for three years." – Kate Bunting Sep 15 '19 at 08:17