Friday November 9, 2007
‘Didn’t used to’ is not wrong
REGARDING the TIME magazine subhead ‘Didn’t he used to be Ben Affleck?’ which was deemed grammatically wrong by the Editor of Mind Our English (Oct 30), I’d like to point out that it’s not.
I am including here the explanation on the usage of “didn’t used to” by BBC grammar guru Roger Woodham from the World Service’s Learning English page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv285.shtml):
Used to is used to describe past habits or long-lasting actions and situations which are now finished.
* People used to think the sun revolved around the earth.
* I used to take size 12, but now I take size 14.
For questions and negative forms, two forms of the verb are used – either the normal infinitive pattern after did (more common), or the past form used (less common):
* I didn’t use to take such a large dress size, but now I do.
* I didn’t used to take such a large dress size, but now I do.
In a more formal style, questions and negatives are possible without do, following the pattern of a modal auxiliary verb, although these forms are less often used:
* I used not to like contemporary dance, but now I do.
* Used you to play the organ in church before you became a monk?
Personally, I like neither “didn’t used to” nor “didn’t use to” and prefer instead “used not to”, but that is rather formal.
You will find many more instances of “didn’t used to” in everyday English, both in speech and print, not just in the American media but also in the British and Australian media.
It may be less common and sound off, but it is not incorrect.
Incidentally, I also have a query on an article published on Oct 12 titled ‘Possible Worlds’ in which Tom Hayton from the British Council wrote “If I was rich, I’d buy a penthouse.” Should it not have been “If I were rich” as this is a case of the subjunctive form?
– S. Anuradha
The answer to your question is that both forms are correct.
You can say
If I was rich, I would buy a big house.
OR
If I were rich, I would buy a big house.
Similarly
If he was rich, he would ?
OR
If he were rich, he would ?
Nowadays, “was’’ is more common for the third person (he/she/it) but we still use “were’’ with “I’’.
The reason for confusion stems from Old English, which has some of its roots in Germanic (the ancestor of languages like German, Scandinavian and English itself, which is why we call languages in this group “Germanic languages’’). “Were’’ comes from OE “ware’’, which is similar to “w ä re’’ in modern German.
In modern German, “If I were/was you’’ translates as “Wenn ich du w ä re’’ (lit. “if I you were’’). You can see the parallel.
I hope this answers your question.
– Tom Hayton
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