Used to and would

Question

Is the verb "work" a state? For example, the sentence "I used to work as a doctor." is grammatically correct but is "I would work as a doctor." also correct? It doesn't sound weird, is it because it is used as unreal present? The sentence "He would work from 4 am to 7 pm when he was an accountant." is grammatically correct, so does that mean the verb "work" becomes dynamic when it is used in that sentence? Someone please explain, I'm confused.

Bryan Rigg · Answer

Work is not a stative verb.

Furthermore I wouldn’t find the the two sentences synonymous. While both express you worked as a doctor, the latter seems to be emphasizing you only occasionally worked as a doctor. Or depending on context it would be confused with the unreal future.

As a side note it is “use to” not “used to” in that context.

Aditi · Answer

Both the sentences are different

Firstly "used to" and "would" are different.

There are 2 meanings of used to which depends on what u want to tell. Like "I'm used to it", where used means accustomed to.

"I used to go to the beach with my grandparents" where used means something you did repeatedly in the past, but not now.

Whereas 'would' is a modal verb with is commonly used to create conditional verb forms. It serves as the past form of will and it indicates repetition in the past. it also express a polite request.

Used to and would

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