Usually and Used To - What is the Difference [Examples+Video+Exercise]

Usually and Used To - What is the Difference [Examples+Video+Exercise] One  pair of words that we hear students having problems with in our English classes are Used To and Usually.Look at the examples below to see if you know when to use them.I dont (usually/used to) go to work on the weekend.Do you (usually/used to) work on Monday?I (usually/used to) walk to work when I lived downtown.I didnt (usually/used to) like broccoli.Watch the video to see how you do, then try the exercises below. I (used to/usually) drink coffee in the mornings when I was in school.I (used to/usually) drink coffee every morning.He (used to/usually) be a journalist.Now he (used to/usually) writes fiction.I am (used to/usually) staying up late at night.Ok thats it! You can write your answers in comments and we will reply. You can also use comments to ask questions.Want to try another quiz on used to and usually? Click here. Clemens I used to drink coffee in the mornings when I was in school.I usually drink coffee every morning.He usually be a journalist.Now he usually writes fic tion.I am usually staying up late at night. LOIEnglish Clemens.You made two mistakes. Number 3 and Number 5. Number 3 is: He used to be a journalist. This is about the past. When we talk about our profession in the present tense we dont say usually. For example: I am a teacher. He is a journalist. Usually indicates something that is frequent but not constant. Our profession is constant while we are working in the profession. So, even when Im sleeping at night, Im still a teacher.Number 5 is a bit of a trick question. In this case the correct answer is: I am used to staying up late at night. The meaning isnt about the past it is about the present but it signifies that it is something we are accustomed to. Notice the construction: to be + used to + verb ING. We wouldnt use usually in the present continuous form (to be + verbING) because we use the present continuous form to talk about something that is happening at the moment. For example: I am staying up late tonight! I usually stay up late on Saturdays. I used to stay up late every night. I am used to staying up late.I hope this helps! Adham Bel Karim i usually drink coffee every morning. LOIEnglish Very good Adham! You should try the other questions too! Lewis Great Video!!!!! Thanks Pauline Guédon Hello, Isnt there a mistake in the sentences Did you used to ? and I didnt used to. Shouldnt we use Did you use to and I didnt use to instead ? Thanks for your answer LOIEnglish Pauline,I had to do a bit of research to get a clear answer about this. It is fairly divided about the ed when used with did or didnt. My most trusted grammatical sources however, say that you are correct and there is a mistake in the video. We shouldnt add the ed when using did or didnt in a sentence. In spoken English there is no clear pronunciation difference thus making it a written mistake that is so common to native English speakers it is becoming more and more accepted. Just googling it I found several news headlines that use the ed ending with didnt. Ive read that used to is becoming a modal verb over time and that soon either spelling will be correct. Although, at this time I would write it without the ed with did or didnt. Thanks for the great question! It was a tough one. Im going to record the video over correcting the mistake! Joan Great tip. Lets see if I got it:1. I don’t usually go to work on the weekend.2. Do you usually work on Monday?3. I used to walk to work when I lived downtown.4. I didn’t use to like broccoli. Kristi Black please can you explain articles-a/an,the.no articles? please LOIEnglish These can be tricky especially if you dont have articles in your native language. Here is a video and Ill make a quiz about it sometime this week. http://www.skypeenglishclasses.com/skype-english-blog/videos/english-articles-the-video-exercise/Here is another that could be useful: http://www.skypeenglishclasses.com/skype-english-blog/videos/english-articles-video-and-exercise/One more: h ttp://www.skypeenglishclasses.com/skype-english-blog/dressing-girls-as-boys-a-lesson-on-articles-aanthe-and-gender-issues/ Kristi Black please can you explain articles- a/an, the, no articles? LOIEnglish I had to do a bit of research to get a clear answer about this. It is fairly divided about the ed when used with did or didnt. My most trusted grammatical sources however, say that you are correct and there is a mistake in the video. We shouldnt add the ed when using did or didnt in a sentence. In spoken English there is no clear pronunciation difference thus making it a written mistake that is so common to native English speakers it is becoming more and more accepted. Just googling it I found several news headlines that use the ed ending with didnt. Ive read that used to is becoming a modal verb over time and that soon either spelling will be correct. Although, at this time I would write it without the ed with did or didnt. Thanks for the great question! It was a tough one. Im go ing to record the video over correcting the mistake! Deren Saraçoglu Hello. First of all, thank you for the information you shared. But I`d like to emphasize one thing on the video and the exercises below the video that the negative form of used to is: I didnt use to or He/She/It didnt use to. But instead, I saw that you had written them with the -ed in the end. I think you might like to make the corrections. Thank you again, have a great day.