3

Page 496 of Collins Cobuild English Usage reads

You form 'yes/no'-questions with used to by putting did in front of the subject, followed by use to: Did you use to do that, when you were a kid?

WARNING: many people use used to instead of use to in questions. However, some people consider that this use is incorrect,

Did you used to play with your trains?

If the 'wh'-word is the object of the clause, or part of the object, you use the auxiliary do after it, followed by the subject and used to,

What did you used to do on Sundays?

I'd like to know why use to isn't possible in the second structure, What did you use to do on Sundays?

USED: https://oed.com/oed2/00273881

GJC
  • 2,491
  • 6
    As was pointed out several years ago by our resident linguist John Lawler, *in writing, there is no standard accepted spelling of this expression* (Didn't it use / used* to happen?). So the short answer is use to IS possible in the second structure.* It's just that in the *spoken* version, no-one would normally know whether that */d/* was present or not. Collins is being unwise in taking sides on this matter. – FumbleFingers Aug 25 '20 at 16:10
  • 6
    The reason why there isn't a standard is that both versions look wrong to experienced readers, for different reasons, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Except avoid it in writing, or get used to one of the variants (which one will be a problem, since everybody will decide on their own). – John Lawler Aug 25 '20 at 16:48
  • @JohnLawler why does this version look wrong? What did you use to do on Sundays? https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?year_end=2019&corpus=26&year_start=1800&smoothing=3&content=what+did+you+use+to%2C+what+did+you+used+to&case_insensitive=on&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cwhat%20did%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BWhat%20did%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bwhat%20did%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cwhat%20did%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BWhat%20did%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bwhat%20did%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0 – GJC Aug 25 '20 at 16:54
  • 3
    @John: Haha - I like that both versions look wrong to experienced readers! I really wanted to be able to at least express a preference when writing my first comment here, but I find that when they're actually written down I don't like either. I have no problem at all with the spoken version (which to me can only have one form). It's a bit like exasperated / admonitory air sucked in between tip of tongue and palate - again, something I do all the time, but both *Tut* and *Tsk* look equally bad as written forms. And don't get me started on the "side click" for geeing up a horse! – FumbleFingers Aug 25 '20 at 17:06
  • 1
    It's not "use(d) to" but just "use(d)". The "to" is part of the VP functioning as complement of "use(d)". The correct forms are: In interrogatives, "Did you use to play ...?". In declaratives, "You used to play ...", and in negatives "You didn't use to play ...". – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 17:32
  • 2
    Yeah, but it looks wrong. Has nothing to do with grammatical function; it's vision and sound habits colliding with idiomatic lexical insertion. – John Lawler Aug 25 '20 at 17:33
  • The aspectual verb "use" has no present tense, no gerund-participle, and no past participle. The plain form is found only in clauses with auxiliary "do", – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 17:40
  • The complication is that "use" can be either a lexical verb or an auxiliary. In "Used you to smoke?" it's an auxiliary, but in "Did you use to smoke?" it's a lexical verb by virtue of requiring do support. Very few speakers treat it as an auxiliary. – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 17:47
  • @BillJ Page 496 of Collins Cobuild English Usage reads "You form 'yes/no'-questions with used to by putting did in front of the subject, followed by use to:

    Did you use to do that, when you were a kid?"

     – GJC Aug 25 '20 at 17:51
  • @GJC That's the do support that I mentioned. The past tense form "used" only occurs in declaratives, as in "I used to smoke". Note that the verb is just "use(d)", not "use(d) to", except for those who take "use to" as an idiom, which I don't go along with.. – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 17:58
  • @BillJ Still, why is used compulsory in wh-questions, unlike in yes/no-questions? – GJC Aug 25 '20 at 18:01
  • @GJC It's not, or at least it shouldn't be. The correct form is "What did you use to do when you were a kid?" where the plain form "use" is required following the dummy auxiliary "do", just as in any other VP (cf "Where did you go?", not *"Where did you went?" – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 18:10
  • @BillJ NGrams says differently https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=What+did+you+use+to%2CWhat+did+you+used+to%2CDid+you+use+to%2CDid+you+used+to&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CWhat%20did%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CWhat%20did%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDid%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDid%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2CWhat%20did%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CWhat%20did%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDid%20you%20use%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDid%20you%20used%20to%3B%2Cc0 – GJC Aug 25 '20 at 18:15
  • @GJC The fact is that the dummy auxiliary "do" requires an infinitival complement except, as I've already explained, for those who take "used to" as an unchanging idiom. – BillJ Aug 25 '20 at 18:23
  • https://oed.com/oed2/00273881 – GJC Nov 18 '20 at 10:13
  • I haven't heard anyone use "did + used to". It verily shows two-times use of 'did', like [did + (did use to) ] – Ram Pillai Aug 17 '21 at 01:33

2 Answers2

2

The normal, completely unremarkable negative (with Do-Support) of the idiom used to in

  • I used to like marshmallows.
    /a'yustuˌlayk'marʃˌmɛloz/

is pronounced (note the /st/ in both forms -- no /zd/ for used in this idiom)

  • /aydɪdṇ'yustuˌlayk'marʃˌmɛloz/

and that's not a problem. In speech.

There isn't even much confusion with the almost identical idiom be used to, meaning 'be accustomed to' -- most English speakers don't even notice that there are two of them.

But the past-tense-with-presupposition idiom used to does pose a problem, in writing. In speech it's treated as an infinitive, as required by Do-Support, no problem. But in writing used doesn't look like an infinitive; in fact, it's a past participle. But the idiom is spelled used to. Hence, there are two choices:

a) I didn't used to like marshmallows.

b) I didn't use to like marshmallows.

Both of these look wrong to experienced English readers, because both of them contain sequences readers have been taught to avoid as products of grammatical mistakes:

  • (a) contains didn't used, which is wrong -- Do-Support doesn't make a participle used.
    So that looks wrong.

  • (b) contains use to instead of used to, which is the idiom, so use gets a /z/ .
    And that looks wrong, too.

Too bad, so sad, English orthography flunks again.

John Lawler
  • 107,887
-3

There is a relevant account in https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/used-to.

I dislike both constructions in written prose. To use "use" in the second may momentarily muddle the reader's understanding of "use" (="in past times") with the other sort of "use" (use on Sundays - to do what? Use of tools, for example).

I would always edit such questions to "Used you to play with your trains?" and "What used you to do on Sundays?"

Anton
  • 28,634
  • 3
  • 42
  • 81