1- The adverbs of the past time such as last week/month/year, weeks/months/years ago,etc are usually used in the simple past tense. Can they be used with USED TO V?
2- Last year I used to get up late. Now, I get up early and do morning exercises. Is this sentence right?
All of these are covered by the general outline I gave in my post #7.1-It used to work when I first installed it last week.
Not natural.
2-This definitely used to work when I was marking a test.
Possible, if the test-marking happened during some past period, and no longer happens.
3-How do people used to live in the past in united Arab emirates?
How did people use to live ...
or: How did people live in the past in ...
If we use 'used to', we don't normally add 'in the past'.
4-I used to fly my kites in my childhood.
Fine.
5-She used to let me read her books when she was finished.
Possible, if this happened during some past period, and no longer happens.
Of course there is a difference.
1-He used to swim in this river when he was young.
" Used to" describes something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens today. The speaker in this example no longer swims in that river because it was just a past habit that no longer exists.
2-He often swam in this river when he was young.
The past simple, in contrast, simply situates something in the past. This person might still swim in that river today.
Thank Mr.5jj, Ms.nedira and Mr.billmcd again.
Excuse me! I'd like all of you to give particular comments on this sentence (although I have mastered your previous comments) because it is in the E textbook in VN and I am in an argument now.
2- Last year I used to get up late. Now, I get up early and do morning exercises.
It does not sound very natural to me, for reasons that I gave in post #7.2- Last year I used to get up late. Now, I get up early and do morning exercises.
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