May I use "usually" with a past-tense verb?

Question

Usually means in most situations or what most people do. Is this sentence correct, with the verb in past tense?

I usually went home late.

Answer 1

As @Victor comments, OP's example usage is fine. But in practice, if you say you usually did something (past tense), that probably implies you don't do it any more.

A closely-related usage which more strongly forces the not any more sense is...

I used to go home late

...where it's important to note that (technically speaking) the past tense is in used, so past tense went becomes infinitive go because you can't have both verbs tensed here.

It might be interesting to note that you can (contrive to) overrule the not any more implication...

I used to win at Monopoly, and I still do
I usually won at Monopoly, and I still do

...but that would be slightly "odd" phrasing. Most people would just use present tense...

I usually win at Monopoly

Note that there's no equivalent present tense use version - the closest you can get is...

I am used to winning at Monopoly

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At the risk of straying too far from OP's usually, I'll just point out that in this context, use is a defective verb (that's why there's no "present tense equivalent" above). And in a construction like...

Did you use to go home late?

...hardly anyone really knows (or cares) whether they're actually saying used (which is even more indistinguishable to a listener). Obviously if you stop to think about it, use has to be an infinitive, just as it would be like, not liked. But because we're so much more used to the past form for this sense, and the distinction doesn't exist in spoken (real) language, usage is somewhat flexible...

Did you used to [do something or other, in the past]? (897 hits in Google Books)

...where most of those are probably the "grammatically incorrect" usage.