Being irritated at "would of, could of....."

[DuchessOfDisaster]

I cringe when I see this written down. Along with "defiantly" for definitely and other examples. I don't see there is ever any excuse. And the excuse that "language evolves" doesn't wash, because "to of" is not a verb and never will be no matter how language evolves. It's not the same as adopting words from other cultures, new words like selfies, or a different meaning for "sick", for example.

OK, when we say "would've", "could've" etc, it may SOUND similar, but that's no excuse either. It implies the writer has never seen "would have" etc written down, therefore doesn't read much. What did they do at school? Was this style of writing used then and never corrected?

Another cringeworthy example is the inability to differentiate between there/they're/their and your/you're.

Just why do people do it and worse, why is it excused?

To me its an accent thing. It usually tells me the poster is English. I cant imagine a Scottish person would write 'could of'. We'd naturally say 'could huv'. Well i would

What irritates me more is someone moaning about pedantry starting a thread in AIBU instead of Pedants' Corner. Laziness? Can't read properly? There's no excuse

@ssd

To me its an accent thing. It usually tells me the poster is English. I cant imagine a Scottish person would write 'could of'. We'd naturally say 'could huv'. Well i would

Loads of people in Scotland write of! I think it’s less common in the West Coast though.

“Been” instead of “being” is one I see everywhere now and I really just don’t understand how people can’t realise it’s wrong.
See also “seen as” instead of “seeing as”.

My least favourite, though, is “his” for “he’s”, and vice versa.

(Have at my post, lovely, angry people.)

@AmberIsACertainty

OK, when we say "would've", "could've" etc, it may SOUND similar, but that's no excuse either. It implies the writer has never seen "would have" etc written down, therefore doesn't read much. What did they do at school? Was this style of writing used then and never corrected?

You're right, they don't read. I've met people who've never read a book once they left school.

I'm seeing more "of" and "off" being mixer up and used incorrectly too.

Brought and bought will always annoy me. It's not even that difficult to work out which is which. Brought from "to bring". Bought from "to buy". I swear half the population doesn't realise they're two different words with two different meanings, not one word with two spellings.

I see you are embracing the modern (and accepted) usage of stative verbs with gerunds. That's great! Not so long ago, people who considered themselves superior users of English would have been dreadfully snippy at what they perceived an abomination. Glad to see you're not one of them! not that you know what I'm talking about

I'm ready for the fight

Predictive text will change "definitely" to "defiantly" if the user uses the latter more often.
Or if they've been chatting about LOD.

What makes you assume people are smug? I'm not smug. I'm sometimes annoyed and frustrated at reading drivel, but that's it.

It's very easy to tell.

Interesting that you felt the comment was directed at you though.

Aaaaargh I can't stand when people write could of/ should of.
There's really no excuse as it grammatically makes no sense.
I'm with you OP.

@HauteGirlSummer

Aaaaargh I can't stand when people write could of/ should of. There's really no excuse as it grammatically makes no sense. I'm with you OP.

Just keep sitting then, you'll be fine

@HauteGirlSummer

Aaaaargh I can't stand when people write could of/ should of. There's really no excuse as it grammatically makes no sense. I'm with you OP.

How do you feel about commas?

@HauteGirlSummer

Aaaaargh I can't stand when people write could of/ should of. There's really no excuse as it grammatically makes no sense. I'm with you OP.

"can't stand it" HTH.

@HauteGirlSummer

Aaaaargh I can't stand when people write could of/ should of. There's really no excuse as it grammatically makes no sense. I'm with you OP.

I wrote a list of excuses upthread, there’s loads of them. I’ll quote it for you again so you don’t feel embarrassed at how obvious they are.

[quote Pumperthepumper]@luciasanta

English as a second language
Dyslexia
Poor childhood
Exhaustion
Mental health difficulties
Disorganised education
Bullying, leading to missed education
Lack of confidence
English as a third language
Hearing difficulties in early childhood
Poor short term memory
Difficulties typing
Dyspraxia
ADHD
English as a fourth language[/quote]
Here you go.

YANBU.

It’s at the stage now where I’m actively surprised when I see someone say definitely instead of defiantly, ‘bought a house’ instead of ‘brought a house’, or use a possessive apostrophe correctly. There are so many errors that are ubiquitous they’ll end up becoming the default and the currently correct ways of writing will be as dead as the dodo.

It does make me think badly of the writer, even though I tell myself it isn’t necessarily their fault if they haven’t been able to focus on the education they received at school. But it comes to something when the majority of my friends who speak English as a second language understand the language better than most English native speakers I know. Communication is important.

@burritofan

“Been” instead of “being” is one I see everywhere now and I really just don’t understand how people can’t realise it’s wrong. See also “seen as” instead of “seeing as”.

My least favourite, though, is “his” for “he’s”, and vice versa.

(Have at my post, lovely, angry people.)

Brave of you to use Latin.

tu alicui latino vel auctoritatem relinquamus?

I was always taught that it was incorrect to start a sentence with "and" or "but".

Despite my Masters degree, I am thick because I sometimes say "can I" instead of "may I".

No, that’s just a piece of pedantic nonsense. And people who say, ‘you can but as to whether you may’ are the most irritating of the lot! But ‘could of’ ‘should of’ etc are just plain wrong.

Should be ‘that are so ubiquitous’ before someone points it out ❤️

@Monday26July

YANBU.

It’s at the stage now where I’m actively surprised when I see someone say definitely instead of defiantly, ‘bought a house’ instead of ‘brought a house’, or use a possessive apostrophe correctly. There are so many errors that are ubiquitous they’ll end up becoming the default and the currently correct ways of writing will be as dead as the dodo.

It does make me think badly of the writer, even though I tell myself it isn’t necessarily their fault if they haven’t been able to focus on the education they received at school. But it comes to something when the majority of my friends who speak English as a second language understand the language better than most English native speakers I know. Communication is important.

How can you ‘see’ someone ‘say’ anything? Speech bubbles above their head?

Communication is important. I now think badly of you as a writer.

@SoupDragon

I was always taught that it was incorrect to start a sentence with "and" or "but".

It is incorrect. A lot of people use it ‘for effect’ but it’s not accurate grammar.

My DD was told by her Y2 teacher that starting a sentence with ‘because’ was incorrect so I had to reteach that.

I was always taught that it was incorrect to start a sentence with "and" or "but".

I’ve just done it with both! Free yourself of these unnecessary shackles!

I think badly of you as a human being based on your behaviour on this thread, so your opinion isn’t really relevant to me. Thanks for sharing it anyway, though!

I'm so glad it's not just me!

@Monday26July

I think badly of you as a human being based on your behaviour on this thread, so your opinion isn’t really relevant to me. Thanks for sharing it anyway, though!

We should all just stop engaging. There’s a reason most of the posts are being deleted. I won’t be surprised if the whole thread disappears soon.