This is what I am submitting
She used to have long hair.
Form
Used + infinitive
I used to eat meat.
We used to date.
Function
To state a habit or state in the past that is now completed or different from the present situation
.
The sentence above functions to allow the speaker to inform that, before (in the past), she had long hair but not now.
Phonology
The pronunciation of used to is blended into /justu/: the d of ‘used’ and the t of ‘to’ blend in together. Next the h of ‘have’ blends into ‘used to’- /justehav/. The o sound becomes a schwa sound.
I was having a bath when the phone rang.
Form
past progressive + object + time word + simple past
I was eating lunch when the dog barked.
I was writing my homework when the computer died.
Function
When past progressive and simple past are used in the same sentence, the past progressive verb indicates the longer (main) action. The simple past verb describes a shorter action or interrupting action that occurred in the middle of the longer action.
Phonology
‘I was having’ usually shortens to ‘I’s avin’- ‘was’ is contracted and ‘having’ becomes shortened with the diagraph ‘ng’ becoming ‘n’.
I wish I had worked harder.
Form
Wish + past simple verb
I wish I bought insurance.
I wish I studied Spanish.
Function
When ‘wish’ is presented this way it is used to indicate a wish about the past, a desire for a past action to have occurred.
Phonology
‘I wish I had’ becomes ‘I wish I’d’. The ‘had’ usually is contracted after the subject.