to get annoyed at people who use *of* instead of *have*...

[Saddlesore]

... as in "I would of bought you a present if I knew it was your birthday".

Grrr!

Because there is a whole spectrum of behaviour in between not giving a shit about other people's grammar, and "constantly sneering" at them in order to silence them.

I didn’t claim that there was a particular individual constantly sneering but this subject is raised often and the threads are pretty samey. Just occasionally there is a thread started about something totally unrelated where the error is made, for example: ‘my husband would of killed me if my brother-in-law hadn't pulled him off’ and some sneering gobshite comes along and points out the grammatical error. That's sneering and silencing.

This could of lead to someone loosing out.

Well I've learned something new here! I had no idea gaol was pronounced like jail!

By the way, not all languages the verb to have's use as an auxiliary in various different modes and past tenses. Its use for this in European languages is arbitrary. So there's nothing to say that using have in this sense intrinsically makes more sense than using of. Also since 'to have' has this extra function as a grammatical particle means that it is used all the time and has been subject to considerable distortions across the continent: avere/haben/avoir etc. 'Of' isn't exactly outside the normal range.

But isn't it only in written English that it is a problem? It comes from contracting or eliding "should have” or “would have" in speech, which is common and not incorrect. In many accents of spoken English, contracting words with "have" creates a homophone with "of." In addition, in many accents “would” and “have” are usually elided. Do you carefully enunciate "would have" or do you elide it in your accent? In mine, it's almost always elided (Southern US). I think it is overly pedantic to insist that people change their accents to create a discernible aural distinction between the two words.

Some people then incorrectly write the words as they sound to them. This is not right, of course, but it is not the crime of the century.

You'll never learn them

I correct my 5 yo because he lives in my house, other people not so much.

this really drives me insane - but as others said, you have to bite your lip (generally). It also drives me insane when DP says "them" instead of "those" as in "pass me them shoes". I am banned from correcting it in our house though as apparently it's a cultural slang and I am oppressing his Northerner rights.

Then again, this is all small beans to what you find on our Facebook community site so I sometimes count my blessings after a quick perusal on there.

I'd never, ever presume to make a remark, but I do sometimes wonder whether people ever read anything. It's easy to mishear lots of words and phrases, but unless you only read online forums, surely you must have noticed words like drawer, for example, or phrases like would have/could have.

Totally none of my business, of course, but I think it's a shame that the education system isn't always able to inculcate an enjoyment of reading for pleasure.

Yabu

The posh woman in Emmerdale said would of last night.

I immediately thought of MN

Did they teach you about punctuation mollie123?

Y'know, capital letters and full stops?

Basic stuff like that?

This thread's cracking me up! What about different to, or different than?

or different from?

The posh woman in Emmerdale said would of last night.

How do you know she wasn't saying "would've"?

I'm sure that I had a traumatic childhood illness so dreadful it was never spoken of again as I can't remember any grammar lessons. Probably shows too.

And twice in the past two days on MN my iPhone has changed your to you're. Makes me look a right div. Innit.

lol at the socks in a draw comment!

I am Irish so I expect English people to drop their Rs, it only seems odd to me when they add them back in. Lore and ohduh (law and order)

This is for all you alot haters

This is about he 500th thread on this topic in the last 3 months. Who cares.

Clearly, a lot of people care.
When people write "would of", it really sounds like they don't know that they are are saying, "I would have....".

It sounds very much like 'would of' in my accent.

I'm not actually saying 'would of' though.

Quite. I'm all for moaning about people who just refuse to start spelling things correctly. Trying to suggest someone is saying something wrongly, on the other hand, is just... embarrassing. Tempted to put the 'would of' people and the 'I've never heard of language variation' people on about the same level of ignorance in my head.

"this really drives me insane"

Does it? Literally and actually does it drive you insane? Or are you just mildly irritated?

Of is a preposition and therefore belongs to the predicate. Have is a noun in the 1st person singular and so it follows that it is in the subject.

Have definitely is NOT a noun, it's a verb.

Also not everyone pronounces "of" the same either. In my accent it sounds more like "uhv."

then
how childish and personal
grow up - I was in a hurry posting and I am sure you do the same

Did they teach you about punctuation mollie123?
Y'know, capital letters and full stops?
Basic stuff like that?
and can I just say you have wrongly used '?' when the phrase is not a sentence
and y'know is so incorrect - it is you know as I am sure you are aware
How does it feel to be attacked in that way instead of adding anything to the subject?