use(d) to

[Peter A. McGraw]

In speech, how could you tell whether someone is saying "didn't use to" or
"didn't used to", since both are pronounced identically as "didn't useta"?
I suspect this is the reason for the uncertainty in spelling.
Grammatically, "didn't use to" seems perfectly straightforward to me, since
one would also say, "I didn't use the washrag", whereas "didn't used to"
seems problematical, since one would not say *"I didn't used the washrag."

Peter Mc.

--On Wednesday, August 13, 2003 11:34 AM -0700 Arnold Zwicky
<zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:

>
> larry horn suggested here that the problem with the supportive "do"
> examples *in writing* (they're fine in speech) is that neither
> spelling - "use to" or "used to" - seems right.  i'm perfectly happy
> with the "used" spelling, though.  CGEL has the "use" spelling, but
> notes that "used" is sometimes found in these contexts.



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************