Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hanygeorge38]

Hello

In the follwoing passage what is meant by used to :-

The British Prime Minister is facing new pressure about his decision to go to war with Iraq. The criticism comes from two senior intelligence officials, just days before the publication of a report about the intelligence used to support the war.

Anothor question , why that is used here after constracting :-

Tony Blair's entering a turbulent week. On Wednesday he'll hear the findings of a five-month inquiry, investigating British intelligence in the run-up to the war with Iraq, and contrasting that with post-conflict reality. On Thursday he faces two difficult
by-elections.

Thanks
_________________
hany

[LucentShade]

I put a few footnotes in here, so when you see numbers in the middle of my sentences, check the notes at the bottom.

#1: "Used to" can have several meanings--

1) to talk about things that people did in the past (I used to go there every day, but I do not go there any more.)

2) accustomed to: "The workers were used to the long hours and the dangerous conditions after working in the factory for many years."

3) meaning "utilized for the purpose of." I know that's a fancy definition, so I'll give a few examples: Wood was used to build the house. Trucks were used to carry away the trash. Salt was used to add flavor to the food.
If these sentences sound awkward, it is because they are in the passive voice. #3 is the meaning of "used to" in this sentence. It's tricky because the phrase doesn't include some connecting words that might help. It could be written as "about the intelligence that was used to [by the government] support the war." It means that the British government looked at the information, and decided to go to war, based on that information; they used the intelligence information to support the war. The problem is that the connecting words "that was" are left out, and the text assumes that the reader will understand that. Also, the "agent" *2* is not stated by the text--once again, it assumes that the reader will understand that it is talking about the British government.

#2: "that" is acting as a "demonstrative pronoun" in this phrase. Like other pronouns, it is serving in place of a noun. (Ex: John>>he, the children>>they, your cat>>it) In this case, "that" refers to " British intelligence in the run-up to the war with Iraq." The government panel that did the investigation is going to contrast the information in the intelligence with the things that people actually found in Iraq. "That" is used to *3* avoid repeating the same phrase again.

*1* Sidenote: here, "used to" is pronounced [iuzd tu] with the "voiced" z and d sounds. In the first two meanings, it is pronounced [iust tu].
*2* The "agent" the one who does the action in a passive voice sentence--"The book was read by the teacher."--the agent here is "the teacher"--this usually comes after "by"
*3* See, I'm not lying here