would and used to

Hello!!

What is the difference btween "would" and "used to"

I used to smoke a lot
I would smoke a lot
I smoked a lot

What is the difference between these expressions?

THANKS

I'm not sure at all (I'm not a native English speaker).

<I used to smoke a lot> : I no longer smoke a lot.

<I would smoke a lot> : I mention I was usually smoking a lot (and I may be still doing so, or not).

<I smoked a lot> : I mention this fact without any further information.

As I see it, "would" is used to describe a habit in the past with a personal, slightly nostalgic feel: "I got home in the evenings, and then I would smoke for quite a while, sitting in my favourite armchair, puffing smoke with delight into the air." On the other hand, I agree with greg that "used to" describes something which you did in the past but no longer do now.

By the way, I'm a non-native and a non-smoker. :)

Hm, tricky question. Simplest first:

"I smoked a lot." This means that at some point in the past you smoked a lot. It doesn't indicate whether you do now or not, or when in the past. It could be a part of the sentence "Man, last night I smoked a lot" or it could be a part of "When I was in college I smoked a lot."

"I used to smoke a lot." This one also means that at some point in the past you smoked a lot. But it also means that now either you don't smoke at all, or you don't smoke a lot (depending on context). Also, it tends to mean that the smoking happened further in the past than "I smoked." For example: "I used to smoke a lot, but once my daughter was born I had to stop."

"I would smoke" - This one confused me at first. I thought it was just ungrammatical until Easterner explained it. Now I see what you mean by it. It's used to refer to habitual things in the past long ago. It's never used all by itself like "I would smoke", though. You could say, for instance, "When I was fourteen I would sneak out, and I would smoke a cigarette back by the shed." The use of "would" in those cases, means that now you're much older than fourteen, and that you snuck out and smoked a lot.

Very good question! I hope I was able to help some. Easterner was entirely correct that "would smoke" often implies a nostalgic feel. And like Easterner, I don't smoke either! :p

I agree with the posts above except that "would" is not necessarily nostalgic. "When my father was out of work, he would get drunk every night and beat up my mother."

I just noticed that Gabe said "'would smoke' often implies a nostalgic feel." That's true. I was disagreeing with Easterner's statement, which seemed to differentiate "would" from "used to" on the basis that "would" indicates nostalgia.

Hello everybody!

Thank you for all your answers. I was a bit stuck with the difference between 'would' and 'used to' particualrly when both of them refer to past habits.

I had also posted this question to another site. And I would like write here one of the answers which I found interesting.

'used to' talks about both 'stative' and 'event' expressions.For example:

I used to be very shy [stative]
I used to go around a lot [event]

And the difference between 'used to' and 'would' in this context is

'would' is used only in 'event' expressions and never with the stative ones.

when I was with my sister in her villege I would go around a lot.
but
'I would be very shy' is not correct in this context.

Now you people have given me a beutiful word "Nostalgia" that makes the difference a little more vivid.

thank you all again for all your answers.

Deborah : isn't the <would> you specified called frequentative or narrative <would> ?

I think so

Greg,

“Deborah : isn't the <would> you specified called frequentative or narrative <would> ?”

Well, I really don’t know. But while I was looking up the answer, I came across the following, which may be of interest to some.

Grammatical Aspect:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/g/gr/grammatical_aspect.htm

Georgian Language and Culture:
http://webdisk.berkeley.edu/~shorena/index.html