SPEAKING Work in pairs. Ask and answer about what you used to be like at the age of five. Use the following prompts.
1. Be afraid of the dark
I used to be / didn’t use to be afraid of the dark.
2. Listen to stories at bedtime
3. Watch a lot of cartoons
4. Have piano lessons
5. Walk to school on my own
Read the learn this! box. Underline an affirmative, a negative and an interrogative example of used to in the dialogue in exercise 1.
Complete these sentences with the correct form of used to / didn’t use to and the verbs in brackets.
1. She____________ (be) a student, but she finished her university course in June.
2. She____________ (eat) meat, but now she has chicken sometimes.
3. I____________ (like) cats, but I prefer dogs now.
4.____________(enjoy) TV, but now I find most of the programs boring or annoying.
5. He ____________ (speak) a foreign language, but he started going to Spanish lessons last year.
SPEAKING Find out more about your partner’s childhood. Use the correct form of used to. What did he or she use to.
have for breakfast? watch on TV? wear to school?
enjoy playing? do at weekends? your ideas
PRONUNCIATION Listen and check your answers to exercise 3. How is used to pronounced?
Read and listen to the dialogue between a teenager and his grandfather. Which adjective best sums up the grandfather's attitude: miserable or nostalgic?
Grandad: Have you seen this photo of me when I was your age?
James: No. I haven't. Let me see. Wow! You used to have great hair!
Grandad: I know, I used to spend ages getting it just right. It's much quicker now.
James: Your clothes look cool too. Did you use to spend a lot of money on them?
Grandad: I didn't use to have much money. My mother made some of them. And l used to share clothes with my brother.
James: I used to do that too. But he doesn't let me borrow them now!
Complete the dialogue with the correct form of used to and the verbs below.
be | do | go | live |
not have | not pay | wait |
|
Mum: I 1__________ opposite the Palace Cinema when I was ten.
Alice: 2__________ you __________ there often?
Mum: Yes. But we 3__________. It wasn’t our fault – we 4__________any money for tickets.
Alice: So how did you get in?
Mum: We 5__________ outside the fire exit and run in when somebody opened it!
Alice: I can’t believe you 6__________ that! You’re always telling me how important it is to be honest!
Mum: Well, yes. I 7__________very naughty, but I grew out of it.