used not to

The verb " to use to" to mean "to be in the habit of" (doing something) is pefectly grammatical. Usually only found in the past tense nowadays. It is the origin of the noun "usage", a very topical word for you!

The placing of "not" after the verb is a survival of earlier practice or usage.

I saw not the sun for six days.
I love not rainy days.
I used not to sing ere I met Mary.

("ere" is poetical for "before")

I play football now. I used not to play football, Is one justification

I think its poor grammar but the term is used in that form sometimes. Another British/American difference.

"I didn't play football" is much better.

I bought a used car. I used a knife.

It's perfectly good grammar. "Use" in the sense "be accustomed" or "make it a practice" is an ordinary verb that happens, for the time being, to not be used in some of its tenses. The unused tenses are not dead: they are only dormant.

Note Evelyn Waugh's "You used not to have a moustache, used you?" (Quoted in I. C. B. Dear's Oxford English), where "used" is used both separated from "to" and completely without "to".

I would be quite comfortable with saying

When I retire, I will use often -- especially on
weekdays -- to go to the park. Will you so use?
I suppose there will be others so using. I don't
use to go to the park on weekends; it's too
crowded.

I won't say it, of course, because it's temporarily out of fashion, but if someone says it to me, I will accept it as normal English.

I would say:
I used to not play football, now I do. (note position of "not")
I used to play football, now I don't.

Yes, "used not to" is stilted, archaic, and clumsy. It's actual English but nobody really speaks that way anymore.

I note the wrong position of "not" in that sentence. Despite what various North Americans say, "used not" is perfectly good standard UK English. I am prepared to assert that, although obviously unfamiliar to North Americans, it is perfectly good US English as well.

"I used to not play football" is only grammatical if you wish to say "I was in the habit of avoiding playing football".



But that is correct.

It's not ungrammatical and it's not wrong either. As for the stilted thing, I'd rather speak properly than sound like a hayseed.

Used not" is actually very common and normal in many countries. It's the way we speak in Britain. Thanks for insulting a whole country. I daresay the Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, will be glad to hear that they are stilted, archaic and clumsy too.