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rrthomas / hpmor

PDF, ePUB and Mobi versions of “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality”, from LaTeX source
http://hpmor.com/
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"didn't used to" -> "did not use to" #150

Closed mmavova closed 1 year ago

mmavova commented 1 year ago

There are many instances of "didn't used to ..." in HPMOR or similar.

For example, page 373:

"What kind of Charms did students used to cast in their first year at Hogwarts"

page 436: "That didn’t used to happen in the ancestral environment" And so on.

The correct grammar when "used to" is used with the auxiliary verb "did", then it should be "use to". See, for example, https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/use-to-or-used-to/

twilight-flower commented 1 year ago

This sounds like an obscure dialect thing of some sort; I've never seen "use to" treated as correct anywhere at all, and in fact if I were to see it in HPMOR I would assume it was an error and think it should be changed to 'used to'. So I'm against the proposed change.

rjl20 commented 1 year ago

"Didn't use to" is technically correct grammar, and "didn't used to" is technically wrong, but this is one of those things where so many people use the incorrect version that it's probably a lost cause for the prescriptivists.

"Used to" : "Didn't use to" :: "Started to" : "Didn't start to" "Used to" : "Didn't used to" :: "Started to" : "Didn't started to"

So... obscure, but correct. I have no opinion on which to use.

rrthomas commented 1 year ago

Some considerations:

  1. It's idiomatic English.
  2. It probably nonetheless shouldn't occur outside direct or (possibly) indirect speech.
  3. Even a pedantic speaker might use it for effect or humour (at least, speaking as a pedant who attempts humour, I do!).
  4. I'm not sure about Hermione. ("I didn't used to understand", chapter 122.)

So, I'd certainly consider individual changes that are motivated, but not a blanket switch.

rrthomas commented 1 year ago

Closing. As I said above, I'd consider specific motivated changes!