To didn't versus To wouldn't

[monica]

Hi, I’m desperate for some help here. There’s this first certificate exercise where students are required to underline the incorrect verb form in this sentence:

“Only poor women who couldn’t afford servants didn’t use to have to / wouldn’t have to /didn’t have to wear corsets.”

I’ve got the answer key at the back of the book and the incorrect option seems to be the first one. It does sound funny to me but I really can’t see why the first one is incorrect, but the second isn’t, as both are used to express habit in the past.

I’d really appreciate it if I could get some help with this.

monica

[Mister Micawber]

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I agree, Monica. Perhaps the test writers consider didn't use to have to too casual; the more formal form is used not to have to.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[canadian45]

Hi monica
I think that the only really good answer, or at least the best answer, is "....didn't have to wear....". I don't like "....didn't use to have to wear....'' because I agree that it sounds bad and "use to" are useless words, adding nothing of value.
I say this even though I know that some experts say that using "didn't use to...." is correct grammar. Let's look at another example.
'When I was in high school, our teachers didn't use to make us do a lot of homework.' I think it is much better and simpler just to say 'When I was in high school, our teachers didn't make us do a lot of homework.'

I think that ".....wouldn't have to wear....." is acceptable but ".....didn't have to wear..." is better when we are talking about the past.

I don't like "used not to have to"; "didn't have to" is again simpler and better.

[Alan]

Hi Monica,

Your sentence:

[canadian45]

To me, "didn't used to be obliged to wear" and "didn't used to be required to wear " are also clumsy and wordy phrases. I don't know why anyone would use those phrases when they can simply say "weren't obliged to wear" or "weren't required to wear".

Even though it was a private school, we weren't required to wear uniforms.

As far as I am aware, most experts say that the negative should be "didn't use to", not "didn't used to". Whichever one is correct, my opinion is that the sooner this clumsy and troublesome phrase is thrown into the garbage can the better off we all will be.