Used to/was

Question

Hello Teachers, 1.My family used to be rich. 2.My family was rich. Is both the sentences are correct? What is diffrence between two(for meaning)? Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Both are correct. Use 1. when you want to suggest that they are no longer rich.

We are terribly poor now. It's hard to believe that my family used to be rich. {"was rich" would not be the best choice here.}

-- How were you able to attend such an expensive university?
-- My family was rich. {"used to be rich" would not be the best choice here.}

Hanuman_2000 · Answer

Hello Sir(Mr.CJ)

Your comments are always fruitful to me.I really admire The way you teach.

I have one more doubt,

If I say

1.My father was a doctor.

2.My father used to be a doctor.

I want to know that how to represent a past state which is no longer exist.

3.This building used to be a school, now it a hospital.

4.This building was a hospital.

What is difference between "was" and "used to" in this context?

Actually I was asked to make a senetnce using used to:-

I wrote

"My mother used to be a nurse".

The teacher told that it is not correct beacuse it can be written as

"My mother was a nurse."

I am a bit confused .

Please explain it to me.

Thanks.

CalifJim · Answer

Hanuman,

In every one of these examples, the principle remains the same. Both are correct, but each is used in a different context. The ones with "used to" always emphasize a past situation that no longer exists.

-- What does your father do? (What does your mother do?)
-- Both are teachers now, but my father used to be a doctor, and my mother used to be a nurse.

-- What did you father do during the war? (What did your mother do during the war?)
-- He was a doctor. (She was a nurse.)

-- Look at this old photograph of our town. What were those buildings? (pointing)
-- This building was a hospital, and that one was a hotel. (pointing)

-- I noticed that one of the rooms in the hospital had bookshelves and blackboards.
-- Oh, yes. That's because it used to be a school. They haven't finished the conversion yet.

-- We drove by that big building so fast that I didn't see what it was.
-- That building was a school. / The big building we saw was a school.

"I used to look forward to visits from my uncle Bill. It was so sad when he died."
"I'm so disappointed you had to cancel your trip. I was looking forward to your visit." (Here you absolutely could not say "I used to look forward to your visit".)

CJ

Khoff · Answer

But you could say "I used to look forward to your annual visits, before you married that jerk and had all those annoying children."

Used to/was

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