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]>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]] *On Behalf Of *Dick Veit
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:45 AM
> *To:* [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?
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/