My late husband _________ smoke a cigar after dinner.
A) would always
B) always used to
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Hi, Mohamed Emara,
@Mohamed Emara posted:My late husband _________ smoke a cigar after dinner.
A) would always
B) always used to
I see that both are grammatically correct. You can use 'would' here as a kind of recollection.
Thank you, ahmed_btm, but is there a problem to use "used to" or "would" to describe an activity that was done by a dead person?
Hi, Mohamed Emara,
I agree with Ahmed that both answers are correct. As for your doubts concerning the fact that the actions were performed by a person who is now dead, since both actions belong to the past there is nothing wrong with that.
@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:Hi, Mohamed Emara,
I agree with Ahmed that both answers are correct. As for your doubts concerning the fact that the actions were performed by a person who is now dead, since both actions belong to the past there is nothing wrong with that.
@Mohamed Emara posted:Thank you, ahmed_btm, but is there a problem to use "used to" or "would" to describe an activity that was done by a dead person?
I agree with Gustavo's comment. As long as you avoid states, general situations and actions that can only happen once, both will be OK.
Hello Gusatvo & Ahmed
What do you think of this part of the discussion concerning this sentence on ChatGPT?
Both options A) "would always" and B) "always used to" imply that the habit of smoking a cigar after dinner was a regular occurrence in the past but is no longer happening in the present. Therefore, if the sentence is referring to the late husband, it would be grammatically incorrect as it implies that the person is still alive.
If you want to make it clear that the habit no longer occurs in the present because the person has passed away, you could rephrase the sentence to something like "My late husband was fond of smoking a cigar after dinner" or "My late husband used to enjoy smoking a cigar after dinner." This would make it clear that the habit was a past occurrence and that the person is no longer alive.
<textarea id="BFI_DATA" style="width: 1px; height: 1px; display: none;"></textarea>
<textarea id="BFI_DATA" style="width: 1px; height: 1px; display: none;"></textarea>
Hi, Abdullah Mahrouse,
Unfortunately, I cannot access the links you seem to have sent—if you sent any—but I don't see how "was fond of" and "used to enjoy" can express that the person is now dead. I can perfectly say:
- When I was a child, I was fond of rice pudding and I used to enjoy watching horror movies with my grandma.
and, as far as I know, I'm still alive and kicking.
No, I didn't send any links to the chat. I just copied this part of it. The problem lies in the word "late" in the sentence. As we know, "used to" & "would" imply habitual actions that repeated in the past and are no longer done (or vice versa) by the person mentioned in the context, which means this person is still alive.
This is the point. I'm eager to see your clarification if you please.
Here are just a couple of examples I found of "always used to" and "would always" to refer to actions of historical, long-dead personalities:
From "Churchill: A Biography," by Roy Jenkins: Queen Victoria always used to send remonstrances to Lord Palmerston through Lord John Russell.
From "Haunted Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio," by Jeff Morris, Michael A. Morris: Elvis Presley would always stay at the hotel when he would tour anywhere nearby.
https://thegrammarexchange.inf...2#706429200810092102
That's it!
Thank you very much.
<textarea id="BFI_DATA" style="width: 1px; height: 1px; display: none;"></textarea>