Could have versus could of

I’ve noticed a lot of people write ‘noone’ instead of ‘no one’, I find that really odd. My phone doesn’t recognise it and wants to correct the spelling.

I also have a very intelligent manager at work who regularly asks me to arrange meetings with ‘Graham and I’. I’ve told him it’s wrong but he thinks using ‘I’ is formal and ‘me’ is informal. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree that part of the problem is that fewer people read books, so they are less exposed to the correct form of writing. Furthermore, due to the increase in the use of the written word because of text messages, email and SM posting (whereas previous generations would have used the telephone or face to face communication）young people are being more exposed to such errors...... and are being judged negatively by potential future employers and anyone else who did learn to use the language correctly. There's nothing wrong with using non standard forms if you realise you're doing it and know when it is inappropriate to use them.

I genuinely believe fewer people read books and mostly read online, where the content is often hastily thrown together and not well edited (ahem local news). There's no gentle challenge of reading things written correctly, to shape your own writing (like the literacy version of pro-social modelling). Direct challenge is always harder for people to hear.

This. Plus, they are probably non readers so don't see it written down regularly

Arrghhh spelling, not spalling. The irony.

When I was a primary teacher, I used to correct the incorrect use of 'of' whenever it arose in a child's writing (Y5/6). After a book scrutiny, I was told to let it go as it was disheartening the children. It was even argued by some colleagues that it was a natural progression of language and not that important.

Our weekly newsletter, written by either the Head or Deputy, used to contain many spalling and grammar errors including 'could of', 'would of' and I was greatly disheartened by that.

People are writing 'wondering around' instead of 'wandering around'. Do they really believe they're using the right word?

I've just encountered another 'alot' as well.

I don't think people are reading books very much now, as this can improve spelling and grammar.

It wasn't until I got to sixth form that this was pointed out to me after 12 years of full time state education in the UK.

Off topic but I've had to teach myself many things that I should have been taught in school including budgeting and financial planning.

We home educated our own children and I firmly believe they have reached adulthood with a better education than I had.

Needless to say, they won't get caught out using 'could of', 'should of', 'would of' like I did!!

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Should have put this on https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner @Trendyname 😉

Well, no. There's no proper sentence structure, bad punctuation, as well as it being really badly written.

Meanwhile, unless you have very, very, very poor comprehension, 'could of', is easily understood. I like dialects, some people write as they speak. I agree that it shouldn't happen in official/legal correspondence, but on social media etc? That's fine.

Ditto alot, abit, and aswell.

They might actually realise they've been saying and writing it incorrectly and stop doing it. To save them from looking and sounding like a dick in the future? It's nothing to do with the poster trying to show their 'intelligence.' It's basic English and pretty easy to change when it's explained to you.

Why do people get so personal and defensive as though it’s a character assassination? It’s not. People are allowed to be annoyed by poor spelling and grammar. It’s irritating to read.

Fair enough but it just doesn't seem that hard never to use "could of" because there is no nuance whatsoever about whether it's right or not, and it's not exactly a complicated rule.

Why do you even care?

My DH would 100% use "could of". I know it's wrong but it makes absolutely 0 difference to our lives. If I corrected him he'd probably say "being educated doesn't pay my bills".

He wasn't educated past primary school and earns enough money for us to live comfortably on a single income. He doesn't know fancy long words and doesn't know when and where to use punctuation and it doesn't affect us one bit.

It really annoys me when people feel superior over others because they have good literacy skills. I've found it's because they're usually lacking elsewhere, often in the personality department.

What they are saying is ‘could’ve’, but good luck trying to get that over!

I was an English teacher and I get that language is used differently in different contexts and by different people. I’m not bothered by incorrect usages in everyday speech by members of the public but I wince when the BBC or serious journalists get things wrong.

The BBC News site today says someone ‘was sat’ at a table….

Aaarrrggghh…use the present participle- it's ‘ was SITTING’. If they really were sat at a table someone must have sat them there by manhandling them. Newsflash: different words mean different things - use the right one to be understood.

Get it right, elite professional writers!

20+ years ago a young excellent Maths teacher joined my Department, when we were a 3.30 moan generally another teacher commented about 'could of' and she was surprised, not realising that it was wrong!

I would be impressed that they can spell 'could' if they had such poor grammar!

People forget that English, like many other languages, has a spoken and written version.
Could've being the spoken version, but written incorrectly as the person writing is not aware of the contraction?

Bliney, I wonder if they were busy buying a chesto draws, a plumb tree or marshmellows so got distracted

It’s just people not thinking about the words they’re writing.

If you wrote “I have gone to that shop, I should of gone to that shop instead” does it not seem obvious that “of” is wrong? There’s no need to switch the “have”
None of the people who use it would ever say “I of done that”, they’d all write “I have done that”, but when they add should/could/would to the sentence, they switch.

Also I’ve had to go back and undo my phone correcting “should of” to “should have” three times while writing this (and now six more times for this current sentence). It’s actually quite difficult to force my phone to get it wrong.

See Also: Americans saying "Do" for, Dew, Due and Do

"My check is do to come through by the end of the week."
"The do on the flowers glistened in the morning sunlight"