• I bumped into Martin in the mall.
• You’ll never guess who I bumped into today.

• Don’t burst into my room like that. Please knock first.
• When I told him the bad news, he burst into tears.

• The new tax rules come into effect from next Monday.
• When the changes come into effect, productivity is certain to rise.

• I promoted Kate because she was the best person for the job and the fact that she is my daughter didn’t come into.
• She’s rich because she’s good at what she does. Luck doesn’t come into it.

• I was thinking about going into politics.
• The new model has just gone into production.

• The deal sounds good but we’ll have to go into the details of the contract.
• It’s very complicated and we don’t have time to go into that now.

• Over $100,000 has gone into the development of this new system.
• I appreciate that a lot of effort has gone into the writing of this report.

• She was very unsure at first but has really grown into her new job.
• Give it some time and you will grow into the role.

• I didn’t want to come but Annie talked me into it.
• I think I can talk him into it.

• More and more people are tuning into ‘The Apprentice’.
• People listen to their Ipods and don’t tune into the radio as much as before.

• They fell out over the arrangements for the meeting.
• I don’t want to fall out with you but I’m very unhappy with what you have done.

• Details of the report leaked out over the weekend.
• If this information leaks out, we are in serious trouble.

• She came straight out with it and said I was a liar.
• You never know what he is going to come out with next.

• Microsoft have come out with a new version of Office.
• We haven’t come out with a new product for two years.

• I’ll give out a summary at the end so you don’t need to take notes.
• Could you give those papers out for me, please?

• Our stock of leather will give out in three days, if we don’t get any more.
  My voice is about to give out so I’ll stop my presentation at this point.

• They won’t let us out of our contract with them.
• He resigned this morning which lets me out from having to fire him.

• I couldn’t make out what he was saying with all that background noise.
• I can’t make out who sent me this letter.

• He made out that he had a lot of experience in this area but it wasn’t true.
• He’s not as difficult a person as he is often made out to be.

• He seemed put out that we didn’t ask him to join us for lunch.
• I don’t want to put you out. Don’t do it if it is too much bother.

• How can we bring about change in this old-fashioned company?
• We need to bring about a change in attitude.

• I want to bring along John to the meeting, if that is OK.
• Why not bring Simon along, if he’s interested?

• That photo brings back memories of our visit to Thailand.
• Meeting him brought back memories of when we worked together.

• We need to bring down the price to something more affordable.
• They’re bringing down the price of all their cars.

• I want to bring forward the meeting to Tuesday.
• Can we bring forward the meeting by an hour?

• I want to bring in John on this as he is an expert.
• We need to bring in an outside consultant.

• I hear they have brought out a new model.
• We’re bringing it out early next year.

• He was against the idea but Sally brought him round.
• How can we bring him round?

• Mark brought up the problem with the heating.
• Any other problems that you want to bring up?

• Martin always brings on the trainees really well.
• We try to bring on people quickly and promote them.

• I used to smoke a packet a day but I stopped two years ago.
• Ben used to travel a lot in his job but now, since his promotion, he doesn’t.
• I used to drive to work but now I take the bus.

• There used to be a cinema in the town but now there isn’t.
• She used to have really long hair but she’s had it all cut off.
• I didn’t use to like him but now I do.

Here are a few more comments. I’ve looked up various different grammar books on this and found some disagreements. These are just my opinions, as an educated speaker of British English.

1. Different people seem to have different opinions about the question and negative forms.

-Some people think you say ‘used’ and some people that you say ‘use’.

I didn’t used to like him but I do now.

I didn’t use to eat tomatoes but I do now.

Did you used to swim at school?

Did you use to go to school by bus?

BBC English says that both forms are OK. I agree with that – but not everybody does.

2. Some people think that ‘used to’ should be a modal verb in its form. Other people think that it should be treated as a regular verb.

I used not to enjoy opera.

I didn’t use to enjoy opera.

I didn’t used to enjoy opera.

Used you to travel much before you had children?

Did you use to travel much before you had children?

Did you used to travel much before you had children?

I find the modal form very strange and I don’t believe I have ever used it. However, my favourite grammar writer insists that that is the ‘correct’ form. You can avoid the problem by asking a question in the past simple.

Did you travel much before you had children?

3. There are three situations in which we use ‘used to’. In two of these three situations, it is possible to use ‘would’ instead of ‘used to’.

Past Habits

When I was young, I used to go to the cinema on Saturday mornings.

When I was young, I would go to the cinema on Saturday mornings.

Repeated Happenings

We often used to have no money when I was a child.

We would often have no money, when I was a child.

BUT

Permanent States

We used to live in Edinburgh.

I used to like her but I don’t any more.

 

4. ‘Would can also be used to talk about ‘willingness’ or ‘insistence’ in the past.

He would go to night clubs and would get into fights.

They would always offer me money because they knew I was a poor student.

Here are some exercises:

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

exercise 5

 

• Sue was asking after you. I told her you were fine.
• He asked after my mother. He wanted to know how she was doing.

‘to ask around’ means to ask several people for help or information.

• I asked around to see if anyone knew someone who could rent me a room.
• When I needed to buy a new car, I asked around and someone offered me this one.

‘to ask for’ means to say that you want something.

• I asked for the chicken but you have brought me the beef.
• I must remember to ask for a receipt so that I can get reimbursed.

‘to ask for’ can also mean to do something which is likely to lead to trouble or problems.

• Walking around the streets alone at night was asking for trouble.
• If you go to that part of town, you’re asking for trouble. It’s very dangerous there.

‘to ask for someone’ means to ask to speak to them.

• He asked for Carol but there is no one working here called Carol.
• If you need anything, ask for Henry. He’ll be able to help you.

‘to ask someone in’ means to invite them into the room or your home.

• If someone comes to the door, don’t ask them in.
• Sometimes when I’m out in the garden, the neighbours ask me in for a drink.

‘to ask someone out’ means to invite them to go somewhere with you.

• He asked me out so I expected him to pay for dinner.
• We often invite our friends out for a drink in the pub.

‘to ask someone over’ means to invite them to come visit you in your home.

• I’ve asked Diane from across the road over for a cup of coffee later.
• He asked me over to see what they had done in the garden.

• I want a free copy so I’ll write away for one.
• She has written away for a brochure with details of the course.

• I sent him a letter but he didn’t write back.
• I wrote back saying that we would be happy to accept their invitation.

• So I don’t forget, can you write that down, please?
• I wrote down his phone number on a piece of paper but I can’t find it now.

• To give us your comments on today’s show, write in to the usual address.
• The first one hundred people who write in will receive a free copy.

• Children who are not academic are often written off by schools instead of being helped.
• Most companies write off any employee over fifty-five as they assume they are profitable.

• She has had only one accident but she did write the car off.
• There really isn’t much damage to the car. It won’t be written off by the insurance.

• The rich countries in the West should write off the debts of the Third World.
• We had to write off quite a lot of bad debts at the end of the year.

• Can you write me out a receipt for my accounts, please?
• The doctor wrote out a prescription for the drugs and handed it to me.

• After every class, I always write up my notes straight away.
• She wrote up the minutes of the meeting and distributed them the next day.

• The teacher wrote her name up on the board.
• If you want to join, just write your name up on the notice board.

• Since they declared war, the country has turned against the government.
• He is always spreading nasty stories in an attempt to turn everyone against me.

• When I’m speaking to you, turn around and look at me.
• I recognised him even from behind. He didn’t need to turn around so I could see his face.

• We only have fifty places so we have to turn people away every day.
• The restaurant has a strict dress code. It turns away anyone in shorts and T-shirt.

• Nobody is turned away. We help everyone who comes to us.
• He’s my nephew, I can’t turn him away without giving him some money.

• She marked her place in the book by turning back the page.
• When we arrived in the room, the maid had turned back the bedcovers.

• The road was impassable after the snow so we had to turn back.
• I forgot to pick up the street map and guide book so we had to turn back and go get them.

• There was no turning back once she had said she was going to do it.
• We have invested a lot of time and money in this project, there’s no turning back now.

• He was offered a job there but he turned it down as it was too far from home.
• I turned down an invitation to dinner to come and spend the evening with you.

• Turn the TV down. It is far too loud.
• It’s rather hot in here. Shall I turn the heating down now?

• To get a new driver’s licence, I had to turn in my old one.
• There was an amnesty and you could turn in guns and knives without any consequence.

• She is taking in paying guests to help pay for her house.
• She took in a lodger to help pay the mortgage.

• I was completely taken in by him. I believed everything he said.
• Don’t be taken in by all the publicity. It’s a very expensive product.

• I just couldn’t take in what he was saying. It didn’t make sense.
• He was in shock and couldn’t take in what people were saying to him.

• I took my car in this morning for a service.
• I’ll take it in and get it cleaned.

• I had to take my coat off when the sun came out, it was so warm.
• I wish he would take off his sunglasses so we can see his eyes.

• He has never taken a day off in twenty years. He’s our best employee.
• I’m going to take a couple of days off to visit my parents.

• The plane was over half an hour late taking off but we arrived on time.
• I hate taking off. I can’t see how the plane can get off the ground.

• Sophie has just been taken on with a permanent contract.
• We need to take on a couple of extra sales people as business is growing very fast.

• We’ve taken on too much work. We just don’t have enough staff to do it.
• We can’t take on any more new clients. We have too many already.

• He took the picture out of the frame and gave it to me.
• She had to take everything out of her handbag before she found her papers.