2.3.1.1: Example Paragraphs-"Used to" and "Would"

Narrative Writing with "Used to" and "Would"

"Used to" and "Would" are often used in narrative writing. Narrative writing involves telling a story about something that happened or that the writer imagines that happened. The following paragraphs are examples of this type of writing.

A. Read the paragraphs and pay attention to the uses of "Used to" and "would."

Growing Up

I used to live with my parents in Massachusetts when I was a boy. Every day my brother, sister and I would get up and go to school. Before we left the house, my mother would make breakfast for us so that we wouldn't be hungry during the morning. Sometimes I ate bacon and eggs, but I would usually eat cereal and fruit. After we got to school, we would study all day long, and then we would come home. As soon as we got home, we could have a snack before we did our homework. After we did our homework, we could either go out and play or stay in and watch TV. Usually I would go out and play with my friends. In summer, we would play summer sports like baseball and swimming. In winter, we would play winter sports like ice skating and sledding. Once when we were sledding, a friend of mine crashed into a car. Luckily, he didn't get hurt.

Football

I used to play football when I was in junior high school and in high school. Every afternoon right after school was finished, I would go down to the gym, take off my street clothes, and put on my pads and practice jersey. As soon as I was dressed, I would go out to the practice field, do my running and other exercises, and get ready to practice. The team would then run through football plays that we would use for the upcoming game on either Friday or Saturday. First, we would go through the offensive plays and then we would run the defensive plays. The coaches or the team captains would lead us while we were practicing. We would practice for about two hours every afternoon. After that, we would take off our jerseys and pads, take a shower, and go home. When it was time for a game, we would either play at home, or we would have to take a bus to a different town. When I was in junior high school, I always started, both on offense and on defense. When I got to high school, however, I never started a game. I was too skinny and too slow to play with the big boys. Nevertheless, I played on my high school team all four years because I liked playing very much. If I had been a bigger boy, I am sure I would have played a lot more. However, I was too light and too slow, so I would only play when my team was way ahead in games or way behind in games. My “position” during games would always be “bench warmer.”

An Exotic Trek

I used to go hiking all of the time. (Of course, this was a long time ago.) I would head off into mountains, jungles, forests, and even sometimes deserts. Many times I would go to certain places just to go hiking. For example, I have walked for over 1000 miles in the Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world. The first time I went there was in 1976, when my friend Roger and I went overland from Iran to Nepal so that we could go hiking. Everyday Roger and I would get up early so that we could get an early start. We also got up early because we would often have to sleep with the chickens. Needless to say, the roosters would signal the start of the day by “singing” their lovely song. We could do nothing else but get up and get going. Daily, the roosters would never allow “sleeping in,” so we would roll up our sleeping bags and other gear and start walking. During the day, we would walk through some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. We were not in a hurry, so we could stop any time we wanted to and just admire the beauty of nature. In the background, there would always be very high, snow-capped mountains. One night we spent the evening with a Nepali family in their beautifully carved house. The family lived along the trail and Roger and I just happened upon the house at the time of day when we would normally stop for the day. We were given a corner of the one-bed-roomed house to lay out our sleeping bags and get ready for dinner. After dinner, from the porch of the house, when the sun had set into these mountains directly across a deep valley with five waterfalls glistening in the evening’s fading light, Roger and I sat with the family, all of us eyeing each other and realizing that we were both as different as we were similar to each other. Soon after dinner, the man of the family took out some paraphernalia of some sort and began setting up for something. Soon he started praying and chanting in the language of that region of Nepal, Helambu. He burned incense, rang bells and chimes, and went through the evening prayer service of the Himalayan Lamists. It was very fascinating and interesting for us. It was one very lucky moment in our lives. The next morning, we got up and continued our hike, as usual. We would see and experience many more events on this hike, and could talk about them afterwards, but perhaps they are for another paragraph.

B. Underline the uses of "Used to" in the paragraphs. In which examples can you replace "Used to" with "Would"?