YouTube USED TO Be Different! | English Grammar with Real Examples

I started my YouTube channel in 2007. Yes, I'm a veteran. I'm an old-timer. I was one of the first English teachers on YouTube. I've been around for quite a while, so I can tell you that YouTube used to be different. How so? Just wait. I'll share some interesting examples. Hi. I'm Jennifer, and in this lesson, we'll practice using USED TO so that you can talk about past states, situations, repeated actions, and habits. Back in the early days, YouTube videos used to be 10 minutes or shorter for everyone. If you wanted to make a longer video, you had to split it up into two or three parts. Also, we used to record in different dimensions. Our videos looked almost like a square. We didn't used to have the widescreen format. For a stretch of time, we used to have channel types. I wasn't a comedian or a musician, for example, and the closest title to teacher was Guru. I didn't like that title. I wasn't comfortable with it. But my channel used to carry that badge. Initially, we didn't have the like button. In those early years, viewers used to rate us with a five-star rating system. I used to feel like a chef cooking in a restaurant, and food critics were rating me. Note the pattern is USED TO plus the base verb. And when we speak, USED TO will often sound like USED TO, USED TO BE, USED TO HAVE, USED TO RATE, USED TO RECORD. We use USED TO for past situations. This could be a past state or repeated actions in the past, like a habit. For example, USED TO BE and USED TO HAVE are past states. USED TO RECORD and USED TO RATE are past actions. These were situations that were true in the past, and they're no longer true now. Can I share some examples of my early practices? When I first started on YouTube, I had no experience filming or editing. I used to film with a digital camera. These days, I film with my iPhone or my webcam. I used to balance my camera on bookshelves and cereal boxes because I didn't have a tripod at first. That's true. You might want to ask me some questions. If you do, the questions follow this pattern. Some people think it's okay to keep on that D, the final D. I'm not going to say that one variation is correct, the other is incorrect. At this point, both variations are used. And in truth, when we're speaking, they sound exactly the same. You might also hear, Let's practice. Ask me yes-no questions. Say the question out loud for pronunciation practice. Again, you might hear, Didja. Did you. Again, with didja or did you. You can also add the word really for emphasis. Did you used to upload every week? Truthfully, we don't ask questions with did you used to all that often because it's easier to ask with the simple past and then we clarify with time expressions. So it's very clear we mean then, in the past, and not now. Did you have a light kit back then? Did you film with a good microphone when you started? Did you initially upload every week? We have a similar grammar pattern in the negative. I recommend using didn't used to without the final D. But people write it both ways. Again, the two variations sound exactly the same when we're speaking. Let's practice. Change these sentences to negative statements with used to. Fun fact, channel memberships were originally called sponsorships. But then I think YouTube decided it was confusing and the name changed. So today we have channel memberships. There are other ways we can express the same idea. For example, I could say, Let's rewrite that with never. Consider other structures you know to talk about the past when things were different. Here's a challenge. Choose something that was true in the past but isn't true now and write that three different ways. Here's my example. I no longer have member-only live streams. I don't have member-only live streams anymore. Share your example in the comments. Let's take a moment to compare used to and would. Both verbs can refer to past habits and repeated actions. The difference is would is not used with states. We use would with actions. In the early years, I would film in my living room or kitchen. That was when I used to live in a townhome. In the past, viewers would rate my videos using a five-star system. Did you know I used to be Jennifer ESL? Now my channel name is English with Jennifer. Note how I cannot say I would be Jennifer ESL. I must say I used to be. Just like I used to live in a townhome. Living is also a state. It's not an action. Which of these two sentences can we change to would? 1. For some time, I used to have a small digital camera. 2. In the early days, I used to build lessons with PowerPoint slides. We cannot change number one because have is not an action. Owning something is a state. We can change number two because build is an action. I could say, in the early days, I would build lessons with PowerPoint slides. A final pattern I want you to be aware of is when we omit the main verb because it's understood. I don't have member-only live streams at the present, but I used to. I don't bring my children on camera, but I used to. The main verb is understood in each example. In the first, I used to have them. In the second, I used to bring them on camera. And note when we say used to alone, meaning there's no following main verb, the pronunciation also changes. The final O sounds like a long OO. I don't do it now, but I used to. Practice this pronunciation. Are there things that you don't do now, but you did in the past? You can answer with, I used to. Do you play outside with your friends? You can say, I used to, as a kid. Do you collect anything? You might say, yeah, I used to. In my case, I used to collect stickers. I don't collect them now, but I used to. That's all for now. If you'd like more interaction and feedback, then join the English with Jennifer community on Patreon, where we practice all skills for confident, effective communication. The link is in the video description. Thanks for watching and happy studies!