“get used to cycle” or “get used to cycling”

Question

I tried to pass an exam at www.newschool.co.uk site. One of the questions was to choose correct variant among phrases:

A: I just can’t get used to cycle on the left-hand side of the road!

B: I just can’t used to cycle on the left-hand side of the road!

C: I just can’t get used to cycling on the left-hand side of the road!

D: I don’t get used to cycling on the left-hand side of the road!

I choosed A but the site said that the correct variant was C. In school I was taught that the gerund (-ing) cannot be used with the particle 'to", while infinitive needs it. Have the grammar rules changed in the last 40 years?

Answer 1

No, this aspect of grammar has not changed, but the rule you state only applies to one usage of used to. But in fact "used to" has two definitions.

When used to is used as a verb, then your grammatical analysis is correct -- it must be followed by an infinitive. This is what you would do when indicating that an action took place in the past (often or habitually).

I used to wake up every morning at 7, but now that winter is here, I can sleep in until 9!

However, used to can also be an adjective, indicating familiarity with something. In this case, "to" is a preposition rather than an infinitive marker, and the phrase is followed by a noun, indicating what you are familiar with. It may be that you are accustomed to performing some action; in this case you would use the gerund of that verb.

I'm used to American English, so some British conventions sound very strange to me.

He's used to his parents spoiling him; he'll have a hard time in the real world.

The latter usage is what's being used in your example. We can tell that used to can't be the verb here, because the main verb of the sentence, get, is already present.