Question: Used to.

The first one. A question needs an Auxiliary Verb. In Enlgish these will usually be forms of do,be or have, unless the question word is also the subject ("Who stole my cake?")

If no Auxiliary Verb is present (as the finite verb) "do" must be used.

Example:

You know me?

becomes

DO you know me?

Who DO you know?

In "What was Tom's job?" "

Hi Noctivagus,

Thank you for your reply. But this is the sentence in context in the book:

Remember Tim Scott? He is the man that spends a lot of time in pubs. Well, he used to be a bus driver, but he is not anymore ...

So the question should be, 'What did he use to be?' right?

Best regards

TS

You'd better go along with "What did Tom use to be?", because "he" is more general, and

it might relate to other people mentioned in the story as well.

However, if you relate only to the underlined sentence you've provided, so "What did he use to be?"

would answer the question accurately. Both are correct, although it depends on context.

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your advice and reply.

Best regards

TS

He used to be a ... OK

What did he use to be? OK

What did he used to be? Tolerated.

What used he to be? NO!

What he used to be? NO!

CJ

Hi Jim,

Thank you for the reply.

You know why I've asked it. Because one of my students according to the sentence, 'He used to be a bus driver' wrote, 'What Tom used to be?' and I said, 'It's wrong' and he said, 'Why' and I said, 'Because you are not asking about the subject, but about what the subject used to be'. Am I right?

Beste regards

TS

Your student's question wasn't grammatical. The question should be: What did Tom/he use to be?

However, his meaning was right. He only forgot to attach the auxiliary verb did to the

subject, Tom. Actually, I don't understand the answer you provided. You do ask about Tom, which

is the subject. Otherwise, the question could relate to anyone ment

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your explanation. Sorry, what I meant was, 'You are no asking for the subject' instead of 'about the subject'.

Best regards

TS

Thinking SpainI said, 'It's wrong' and he said, 'Why' and I said, 'Because you are not asking about the subject, but about what the subject used to be'. Am I right?

Yes. Another way to look at it: Tom is the subject, and Tom is in the question, so Tom can't be the answer.

Consider:

Tom threw a ball. <<< A sta

Hi Jim,

But only 'What did Tom use to be' is right!

But you knew all this already.It seems that this time I did.