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Whatchadoin Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Would/played/used to

I didn't have an iPhone so I would play the game on my brother's.
I didn't have an iPhone so I played the game on my brother's.
I didn't have an iPhone so I used to play the game on my brother's.

Do the given sentences mean the same? Thanks. Which one is the most common?
  

Top answer

The first and third mean the same. The second COULD mean the same, or it could refer to a one-time incident. The others indicate that it happened repeatedly.

— BarbaraPA

  • The first and third mean the same.
  • The second COULD mean the same, or it could refer to a one-time incident.
  • The others indicate that it happened repeatedly.
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5 Answers
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The first and third mean the same. The second COULD mean the same, or it could refer to a one-time incident. The others indicate that it happened repeatedly.
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Do the first and the third indicate an earlier time in the past than the second does?
I think that they say nothing about when in the past or how long it's been since the playing occurred.
Thanks.
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Nothing in my response says anything about how far back in the past they were. I said only that the second one could be a one-time incident, not a repeated series of events.
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Yes, but that's not what I meant.

Do the first and the second say anything about how far back in the past they were?
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When you refer to repeated actions that are no longer taking place, there is a feeling that it was some time in the more distant past. You could have done the one-time incident yesterday.
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