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Are these sentences both right ? :

Did you used to visit her ?

and

Did you visit her ?

gigs
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  • welcome to the forum :) possible duplicate http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/47484/what-is-the-use-of-used-in-this-sentence – Man_From_India Jan 22 '15 at 15:34
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    That question compares "used to" with present simple, which has a different effect than this. – eques Jan 22 '15 at 15:35

1 Answers1

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Both sentences are correct.

Did you used to visit her?

This sentence asks about a past habit, meaning did the person visit many times over some time period ending in the past.

Did you visit her?

This sentence asks about a specific occurrence.

eques
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  • i also think so. – gigs Jan 22 '15 at 15:38
  • If I were speaking, I would probably drop "did" and say "You used to visit her?" or "You used to visit her, didn't you?" For some reason the "did" sounds really awkward to me when combined with "used to". – ColleenV Jan 22 '15 at 17:37
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    @ColleenV It doesn't sound weird to me. You might use either of those in informal conversation, but the first alternative depending on tone may imply doubt/surprise/uncertainty. "You used to visit her? I didn't know that" Tag questions are definitely informal. – eques Jan 22 '15 at 17:42
  • Yeah, I don't think it's incorrect to use "did". It may just be a dialect thing. I've lived in the Southern US for a while now, and I think my speech is being scrubbed of all formality. – ColleenV Jan 22 '15 at 17:45
  • One can even say Did you used to? and still be grammatical. I think people say it all the time without thinking about it, at least in some regions. Perhaps it's when we look at it that it seems strange. Also @ColleenV –  Jan 22 '15 at 23:52