Apabila kita menceritakan rentetan atau serangkaian kegiatan di masa lalu, maka yang digunakan adalah modal WOULD. Namun jika kita semata-mata menceritakan suatu kegiatan bukan rangkaian kegiatan, yang kita gunakan adalah USED TO.
Untuk lebih jelasnya, saya akan memberikan contoh-contoh used to dan would dalam kalimat:
- I used to live in London. (Saya dulu pernah tinggal di London.)
- When I was a kid, I would go out with my friends. Then in the evening, we would gather in the mosque. (Waktu saya masih kecil, I biasanya pergi dengan teman-teman. Kemudian di malam harinya, kami berkumpul di masjid.)
- He used to swim in this lake in the afternoon. (Dia dulu biasa berenang di danau ini di sore hari.)
- When she was a student, she would go to the library and eat at a small outside the school. After school, she would drop by at my house. (Ketika ia masih pelajar, dia selalu pergi ke perpustakaan dan makan di sebuah restoran di luar sekolah. Setelah sekolah, dia mampir ke rumah ku.)
Dari contoh-contoh di atas, jelas perbedaan antara USED TO dan WOULD yang sama-sama menceritakan kebiasaan atau kegiatan yang dilakukan di masa yang lampau.
Lengkapilah kalimat-kalimat berikut dengan USED TO atau WOULD:
Lengkapilah kalimat-kalimat berikut dengan USED TO atau WOULD:
- My father ...........work in a factory. Every morning he .........take a bus to the factory. He .......cut corners to get to the factory earlier. On the way home, he .................drop by at a shop to buy some foods for us.
- Lucy ............study Japanese. She studied it because she liked it very much.
- When I lived in London, I ..........work in a food stall near the Hyde Park.
- She .......read a book and listen to her favorite songs before she went to sleep. Then she .......check all windows and doors to make sure that all were closed and locked.
- We all ..............live in a village.
Perlu diingat bahwa WOULD di sini tidak bisa digunakan hanya dalam satu kalimat tanpa ada kalimat-kalimat lain yang mendukungnya. Anda tidak bisa bilang: "I would go to the river to swim." Kalimat tadi harus didukung dengan kalimat-kalimat sebelumnya atau ada context sebelumnya. Perhatikan contoh-contoh kalimat yang sudah diberikan di atas.
Contoh lain dalam percakapan:
A : Did you use to live in Jakarta?
B: Yes, I did. I finished my SMA in Jakarta.
A: What would you do after school?
B: I'd drop by at malls on my way home. Then, I'd go to the library. I'd read books there for one hour.