Dictionary of English - used to

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Used to expresses the idea of something we did in the past but no longer do: When I was a child, we used to go to Scarborough for our holidays.

Using used to in questions and negative sentences can present problems. The usual way of turning a sentence like He used to snore into a question is with the word did. This is straightforward in spoken English, but there are two possible ways of writing it. The more logical is: Did he use to snore? The alternative, Did he used to snore?, is becoming more accepted, but it still strikes many people as odd. You can also make a question by reversing the word order: Used he to snore? But this is becoming less common.

The usual way of making used to negative is with didn't. But again, there's a problem with how to write it. He didn't use to snore is more widely acceptable than He didn't used to snore. You can also put not after used, although this is becoming less common: He used not to snore. The contracted written form is usedn't, not usen't. You can avoid any difficulty by using never: He never used to snore.

For negative questions, you can say: Didn't he use (or used) to snore? or Usedn't he to snore? (the uncontracted form of this, Used he not to snore?, is rather pompous and old-fashioned).

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