be used to doing vs. used to do
moongeegee
Thanks in advance.
Does "be used to doing" express habitual action ?
She is used to playing tennis at weekends. Does she still play tennis
at weekends ?
contrex
1. To be used to expresses familarity. She is used to boats so she is
not seasick.
2. "used to" (always in the past) expresses a former habit or
practice. She used to play tennis at weekends but now she cannot
because of her new job.
Cece
"She is used ot playing tennis on weekends" means that that is what
she normally does now and plans to continue doing it. "She used to
play tennis on weekends" means that in the past, she did but does not
now (or that when the speaker had frequent contact, which he hasn't
for a while now, she did, and he may ask "Does she still?").
Note: As a user of AmE, I replaced "at" with "on."
alan
"moongeegee" <moong...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b0c83f3c-f456-4989...@h21g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
> Could anyone please provide a firm answer for the following question.
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Does "be used to doing" express habitual action ?
Yes.
> She is used to playing tennis at weekends.
>Does she still play tennis at weekends ?
The implication is that she does. However, if you'd said "She *was* used to
playing..."
the implication is that she no longer does so.
Mark Brader
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Does "be used to doing" express habitual action ?
>
> Yes.
Not quite. It expresses familiarity with the action; "be used to"
means the same as "be accustomed to". It might not be a habit;
it might be something familiar from a past habit or experience.
Consider:
"I'm used to negotiating mortgages; this will be my fourth one."
"I'm used to getting off the plane and having to wait an hour for
my baggage. It seems to happen every second time I fly this route."
--
Mark Brader | "Basically, what I *really* want is the USENET of the 1980s
Toronto | without the high long-distance telephone bills."
m...@vex.net | --Wayne Brown
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Richard Chambers
>> Does "be used to doing" express habitual action ?
>
> Yes.
I do not agree that this is the most common meaning of "be used to doing".
To me, the expression usually implies something unpleasant, which (by
repeated practice) you manage to do because you must.
"I am used to working in the rain." It is unpleasant, but I do it. In the
past there have been many instances where it has rained while I was in the
middle of a job, but I had to complete the work anyway. This type of
unpleasant situation has happened to me so often that I am now accustomed to
it, and can easily deal with it.
You would not say "I am used to making love to my wife". This is a pleasant
activity (in most marriages), and such wording would seem strange, almost a
verbal attack on your wife. It would imply an unpleasant or boring chore,
which by constant pratice you manage to do. If this does not describe your
marriage, you would prefer to say "I regularly make love to my wife".
Another expression, "I am accustomed to making love to my wife" seems (to
me) to imply that I am asserting some sort of "right", established by long
custom. Let no man deprive me of this right. The same expression could
alternatively be taken to mean that the shyness I first had, during our
honeymoon, is now a thing of the past. I now feel confident when doing it.
On the other hand, you might well say "I am used to drinking a full bottle
of wine with each meal". Basically, a pleasant activity, but with possible
unpleasant side-effects. You are thinking mainly of the possible unpleasant
effects of the wine when you say "I am used to ...". The wording implies
that (by repeated practice) your body has come to the state where the
unpleasant after-effects no longer happen. Alternatively you might choose to
say "I am accustomed to drink(ing) a bottle of wine with each meal". This
expression does not reveal whether you are thinking of the pleasure of the
wine itself, or of the unpleasant after-effects. It is matter-of-fact,
revealing how much wine you drink, but giving no clue as to the effect that
all this wine might have on your body.
"I used to work in the rain". That is what I did in the past, but nowadays
I work only in dry weather.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
contrex
<richard.chambers7_NoSp...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
> You would not say "I am used to making love to my wife".
Have you met my wife?