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Modals for Repeated or Habitual Past Action

Modals can be used to express a repeated past action.

Would and used to are used to express a repeated action in the past.


Would expresses an actuion that was repeated or habitual in the past. Used to and would have the same meaning in this context.

  • When I was little, I would dream about builing a house for my grandparents to live with me.
  • When I was a teenager, my mother and I would argue about spending too much money on clothes and fast food.
  • They would go to the park on Sunday.

Used to expresses a past habitual condition or action in the past. The condition or action is no longer true.

For the opposite idea (not true in past, true in present) use didn't use to.

  • I used to live in Iowa.
  • She used to be happy.
  • When he was younger, he used to have better hearing.

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