He was not used to public speaking; make a complete ass of oneself

[hhtt21]

"He was not used to public speaking and made a complete ass of himself."


This is from the book English idioms for foreign students by A J Worrall and revised by D G Sawer. After giving definitions, book demonstrates use of some idioms through examples, by definition from its title.

"make an ass of oneself: seem foolish, behave so that one is laughed at"

(example) "He was not used to public speaking and made a complete ass of himself."

But I don't understand the sentence adequately. First of all I am no familiar with the structure, and so the meaning of, "He was not used to ...", I don't also understand the "public speaking" part of the example and I find the use of "complete" in the example confusing. Would you please explain them?

 

[hhtt21]

hhtt21, are used to posting in this forum? If you never posted here, then you would not be used to it, would you?.

It is still too hard to understand. Is are you used to posting in this forum=have you been posting in this forum?

 

[hhtt21]

What is the grammatical name of this structure?

 

[GoesStation]

Is are you used to posting in this forum=have you been posting in this forum?

No, it's not. To be used to something is an important verb form which you should study. It can often be replaced with "to be accustomed to" or "in the habit of", if that's any help.

 

[GoesStation]

What is the grammatical name of this structure?

It's an expression which you can read about here.

 

[hhtt21]

Now I am a little puzzled about the expression "used to". Does "used to" not express habit such as "to be used to"?

• Be careful not to confuse it with I used to (do something), which expresses a completed action in the past:

https://www.gymglish.com/en/english-grammar/to-be-used-to

According to the link it expresses a completed action.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Used to" means something that was done habitually in the past.
"to be used to" means that you are accustomed to + noun/verb.

 

[jutfrank]

Now I am a little puzzled about the expression "used to" According to the link it expresses a completed action.

Ignore that. It's completely untrue. I'm not surprised you're puzzled.

 

[GoesStation]

Ignore that. It's completely untrue. I'm not surprised you're puzzled.

Now I'm confused. How else would you explain I used to go skiing? It means skiing is something I once did and no longer do; it's a completed activity in the past.

 

[emsr2d2]

I can see your point but "a completed activity" usually refers to a single activity which has been completed, rather than a habitual activity.
If you had only been skiing once, decided you didn't like it and never did it again, you would say "I went skiing once ten years ago. I hated it", using the simple past. You wouldn't use "I used to go skiing".
If you skied every year for ten years but no longer ski, you would say something like "I used to go skiing [every year] but I realised my knees weren't up to it and I haven't been since 2014".

 

[jutfrank]

Now I'm confused. How else would you explain I used to go skiing? It means skiing is something I once did and no longer do; it's a completed activity in the past.

No. It's not a completed activity. It's a past activity. 'Completed' is not the same as 'past'. Moreover, used to-infinitive signifies that this past activity was habitual. 'Habitual' means that it was done regularly.

So to summarise, you can use used to-infinitive for past habits.

 

[teechar]

hhtt21, are you used to posting in this forum?

I take it that's what RobertJ meant to write.

 

[teechar]

I am used to something means I am familiar with that thing. It is not special/surprising to me.

For example,

I've been living in Iceland for three years, and now I'm used to the cold winters here.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I used to do something refers to a past habitual action/state.
For example,

I used to smoke, but I stopped two years ago.
I used to like chocolate when I was a child.

 

[hhtt21]

I am used to something means I am familiar with that thing. It is not special/surprising to me.

For example,

I've been living in Iceland for three years, and now I'm used to the cold winters here.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I used to do something refers to a past habitual action/state.
For example,

I used to smoke, but I stopped two years ago.

Instead of this what if "I smoked, but I stopped two years ago."?

 

[GoesStation]

Instead of this what if "I smoked, but I stopped two years ago"?

I used to smoke is more natural. You might also say I smoked once.​ The first clause is unnatural without some kind of qualifier.

Don't use sentence-ending punctuation at the end of a quoted sentence if the sentence it's quoted in ends with different punctuation.

 

[hhtt21]

I am used to something means I am familiar with that thing. It is not special/surprising to me.

For example,

I've been living in Iceland for three years, and now I'm used to the cold winters here.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I used to do something refers to a past habitual action/state.
For example,

I used to smoke, but I stopped two years ago.
I used to like chocolate when I was a child.

I' am again confused now. Are to be used to, to be familiar with and to be accustomed to synonymous here, for such a context? But familiarity evokes me something little different than being used to and being accustomed to. It evokes me something involving mental activity such as in the case of I am familiar with solving linear differential equations. Would you please explain?

 

[GoesStation]

This thread is getting very confusing, but I have to point out that the below is an example of "used to", not "to be used to". The expressions have different meanings.

"[STRIKE]to be[/STRIKE] used to" without "to be":

"I used to solve linear differential equations when I worked in the defense business, but then I became a pointy-haired manager."

 

[hhtt21]

Yes, you can be familiar with 'linear differential equations' without having the slightest notion of how to solve them.

"to be used to":

"I used to solve linear differential equations when I worked in the defense business, but then I became a pointy-haired manager."

"to be accustomed to":

"I was accustomed to solving not only linear, but also non-linear differential equations when I worked in that business."

"to be familiar with":

"He became familiar with linear differential equations by reading a few articles on the web, but that's about it."

You have to be familiar with them before you learn how to solve them.

But the situations used for demonstrations are not exactly the same to each other and I discused to be used to, not used to in the comparison. Would you please evaluate them?

1. I am used to solving linear differential equations when I worked in the defense business, but then I became a pointy-haired manager.
2. I was accustomed to solving not only linear, but also non-linear differential equations when I worked in that business
3. He is familiar with solving linear differential equations by reading books on them.

 

[hhtt21]

First of all, it should be: "I WAS used to solving -----" in your example. If you change 'when' to 'because', it's OK.

I am very confused about above. Why cannot it be that we worked in the past but we have still that familiarity i.e we worked in the past but we are still used to solving them? Why is this impossible with respect to structure or nature of the language? I cannot get this.

 

[jutfrank]

I am very confused about above. Why cannot it be that we worked in the past but we have still that familiarity i.e we worked in the past but we are still used to solving them? Why is this impossible with respect to structure or nature of the language? I cannot get this.

RobertJ meant that you should use because instead of when. That way, the sentence makes the sense you mean.