By Verbs, Football

<although somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely remember reading the combination I usen't to .... > Chambers says: used to There is often uncertainty about the correct negative form of used to. The following are all acceptable (note that when an auxiliary verb is used, it is did,...

<It 'sounds wrong' because 'used' and 'to' have fused into the single word-like element 'yoostoo' in the minds of many speakers, and the 'not' splits it back into its components, so it feels like the 'yoostoo' is oddly missing.> When was the verbal phrase "used to" ever used as separate...

Grammatical justification? What is it? What form would a grammatical justification take? The presence of thousands of instances of it, as on Google? No, I don't think that's what you mean. An analysis of what part of speech each of the words is? No, I don't think that's what you...

Mister Micawber wrote:It just reflects its position as a marginal modal. The negation is as with others of its group:I dare not playI ought not to playI need not playI used not to playYou will note that all of these verbs have various forms of variable respectability. How can "used to" be...

It just reflects its position as a marginal modal. The negation is as with others of its group:I dare not playI ought not to playI need not playI used not to playYou will note that all of these verbs have various forms of variable respectability.

Providing that it is grammatically correct, "used" acts like a modal verb here. Take the verb "need" for example:You needn't make your bed.orYou don't need to make your bed.But I'd say "I didn't use to play football", sounds more natural.

I would say that you should use the verb form of the activity if there is one. Do you surf? Do you ski? Otherwise use play. Do you play football? Do you play tennis? As mentioned above, there are situations where the activity has no convenient verb form or is not game-like (is not...

I agree with Philip and CB.. Lia, are you sure you're not supposed to simply use the verb 'play' in the present perfect continuous? That would be a normal usage:Those boys have been playing football in the evening.Or does your teacher want you to possibly write something like this? Those boys...

Ghai_prince13 wrote:15.1. In one of periodicals of the country which language is studied, I’ve read interesting articles in”our earth” animal are not prisoner. We human have had a long association with wild animal. In the last few thousand year we have deepened on them for our very...

Vincent Teo wrote:(a) Day by day, the plants grew (into) many big and beautiful flowers. (b) They hoped the plants would grow soon. (c) The hobby of Ali is play football. Better as "Ali's hobby" (d) Angela is the shortest kid if them. ???? (e) He cycles with a slow speed. Better to use...