Monday 23 May 2011

Using Would to rexpress a repeated action in the past

Examples:

(a) When I was a child, my father would read me a story at night before bed.
(b) When I was a child, my father used to read me a story at night before bed.

Would can be used to express an action that was repeated regularly in the past. When would is used to express this idea, it has the same meaning as used to (habitual past).
(a) and (b) have the same meaning.

(c) I used to live in California.
He used to be a Boy Scout.
They used to have a Ford.

When used to expresses a situation that existed in the past, as in (c), would may not be used as an alternative. Would is used only for regularly repeated actions in the past.


Cheers!
Naeem

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