Thanks, Karl. That is what I meant to imply, but didn't say it clearly enough.
Edith
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karl Hagen
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 11:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: didn't use(d) to
Dick,
Perhaps its hypercorrection: writers and editors are so used to the rule
that the expression is "used to" and not "use to" that they add the
past-tense marker even where there is no logical reason for it.
Karl
On 06/14/2011 11:02 AM, Dick Veit wrote:
> Edith,
>
> We all agree that "I use to" is nonstandard inasmuch as, while used by
> the occasional unsophisticated student, it is rarely if ever seen in
> reputable publications or written by reputable writers. But "didn't used
> to" appears all the time--in magazines, novels, newspapers. If it is
> "incorrect," it is sure getting past a lot of well paid copy-editors. To
> get a very rough measure of usage, I Googled "didn't used to" (183
> million results) and "didn't use to" (121 million results). I cite these
> numbers /only /to show that both occur a lot.
>
> I'm much less interested in the right and wrong than in the why. Herb
> stated reasons why "used to" can get reduced to "use to," but I wonder
> how the "d" came to exist at all in "didn't used to."
>
> Dick
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Wollin, Edith <[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
> I have always thought that "didn't used to" was incorrect, so I was
> surprised to see that some handbooks consider it standard. I think
> it is the pronunciation that causes the confusion and perhaps
> change. I have had many students write, "I use to" when it was
> clearly a past situation and needed " I used to."
>
> Edith Wollin//
>
>
>
> *From:*Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> *On Behalf Of *Dick Veit
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:45 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *Subject:* didn't use(d) to
>
>
>
> Two quotations from recently encountered novels:
>
> "There's bad blood now. *Didn't use to* be like that..." (dialog in
> Alan Furst's /Spies of the Balkans/, p. 102, Kindle edition).
> "She *didn't used to* smoke around the kids..." (Kate Atkinson,
> /When Will There Be Good News?/, p. 126, Kindle edition).
>
> So which is it, /didn't use to/ or /didn't used to/?
>
> A few usage guides I consulted prescribe "didn't use to," but others
> say both are standard. In my own writing, I probably would have used
> "didn't used to."
>
> On the one hand, "used to/didn't use to" would parallel other verbs
> (laughed/didn't laugh), but, on the other, we're talking about a
> quasimodal, and with modals we can expect significant variations
> from other verbs. Pronunciation is no help--both "use to" and "used
> to" are spoken identically as "useta."
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
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