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Wed 25 May, 2016 09:52 am
The place used to be full of trees, ____ it?
Which is the correct verb to use for the blank: didn't or wasn't?
Thanks.
@tanguatlay,
Or.
This place was full of trees, wasn't it?
@tanguatlay,
tanguatlay wrote:
The place used to be full of trees, ____ it?
Which is the correct verb to use for the blank: didn't or wasn't?
Thanks.
The subject of your inquiry isn't about something that was done in the past, it's about something that was in existence in the past, i.e., the question is whether the place was full of trees in the past. Therefore, the correct word is "wasn't". The place used to be full of trees,
wasn't it?
@tanguatlay,
tanguatlay wrote:
The place used to be full of trees, ____ it?
Which is the correct verb to use for the blank: didn't or wasn't?
Thanks.
What you are asking is:
Didn't the place used to be full of trees?
"Wasn't the place used to be full of trees," isn't grammatical.
It would be correct if you excluded the phrase "used to be."
@InfraBlue,
InfraBlue wrote:
tanguatlay wrote:
The place used to be full of trees, ____ it?
Which is the correct verb to use for the blank: didn't or wasn't?
Thanks.
What you are asking is:
Didn't the place used to be full of trees?
"Wasn't the place used to be full of trees," isn't grammatical.
It would be correct if you excluded the phrase "used to be."
I disagree.
The past-tense phrase "used to be" is another way of saying "was". The place was full of trees, wasn't it?
The inquiry is NOT about something that was done in the past, because this is obviously wrong: The place did full of trees, didn't it?
@Debra Law,
Debra Law wrote:
The past-tense phrase "used to be" is another way of saying "was". The place was full of trees, wasn't it?
That's not the sentence in question, though.
DebraLaw wrote:The inquiry is NOT about something that was done in the past, because this is obviously wrong: The place did full of trees, didn't it?
The inquiry is about the place having been full of trees, a past state of being.
I had written that the sentence would be correct if the phrase "used to be" were removed. The word "was" should replace that phrase.
I repeat: the right word to fill the blank is 'didn't'. X used to be Y, didn't it?.
This reply should make everyone happy. Although i would use "wasn't" in preference to "didn't," you can use either one.
@Setanta,
In Britain, we would say used/didn't
use etc. He used to play the violin, didn't he?
@Tes yeux noirs,
Tes yeux noirs wrote:In Britain, we would say used/didn't use etc. He used to play the violin, didn't he?
Yeah, but. . .
He used to be taller, wasn't he?
Not to mention. .
He used to drink Pluto Water, didn't he?
Depends on the voice.
@neologist,
I've never heard anyone pair 'used' with 'wasn't' in that way. In British English it would be an error.
It is pairing "used to be" with the past tense of that verb.
@Setanta,
That seems odd to my eyes & upbringing: I used to, I used not to, I didn't use to, I used to, didn't I?
"She used to be blonde, wasn't she?" would get you odd looks in Britain.
Well, i don't live in Britain. I live in North America, where there are more than 350,000,000 native speakers of English. Perhaps not everyone here speaks as i do, but i would be understood, and i would be understood in Britain, too, odd looks notwithstanding.
@Setanta,
Sorry, I can be quite slow on the uptake. I hadn't realised this was a pissing contest.
If you didn't want a pissing contests, maybe you shouldn't have mentioned odd looks.
In fact, i was going to comment further about situations in which i'd use didn't and ones in which i'd use wasn't, but i don't think i'll bother now.
@tanguatlay,
Which sounds right:
The place used to be full of trees, used it not?
The place used to be full of trees, did it not?
The place used to be full of trees, was it not?
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