Of or Have

[qualitystreetrosescelebrations]

When is of used and when is have used?

I.e. I said I could of and that was meant to be have and that may of and that should of been have.

When can I use of?

I said I could have. May have, should have.

You don't use of in that sort of context, i.e not after should, would, could, might, may, etc.

So always have and no english language quirk where i'm to use of?

No. It just sounds like it should be "of" - "I could've eaten ten more doughnuts". It makes an "of" sound, but it's an abbreviation of "could have".

Never. You should never use of in those types of situations. As explained above it is because of the contraction 've that it sounds like 'of'. This is probably my big pet hate.

It makes me cringe when I see this written. I could of/should of. AAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!

It might be easier to know what's what if you take the conditional bit away.
So, instead of "I could have eaten ten more doughnuts", try "I have eaten ten more doughnuts". If "of" were involved, you'd be saying "I of eaten ten more doughnuts", which makes no sense.

Imagine what you're saying isn't conditional/hypothetical, no 'would', 'could', 'should' about it.

So instead of I would have eaten the doughnut or I could have gone to sleep, it's I have eaten the doughnut or I have gone to sleep. You wouldn't say I of eaten the doughnut or I of gone to sleep. It makes no sense. Of is not a verb, you're talking about doing something.

Sorry not a great explanation, but trying to break it down into simpler terms.

X-posts.

So always have and no english language quirk where i'm to use of?

Well of course there's lots of places in the English language where you use 'of'. There are two of them in that sentence - but they are places where it simply wouldn't occur to you to use 'have'.

If you're in doubt, its almost certainly 'have' and doing as the previous posters have suggested will clarify it for you.

Thanks so much for all the posts, I now understand. I will not say anymore as concerned that any of my sentences could be gramatically wrong.

Well I think it's fantastic that you care enough to ask :). I tried explaining this to my (grown up) DS1 once and he really didn't give a damn.

I correct DS at least once a day on this (or at least it feels like that often).

Don't worry about asking qualitystreet - the pedants are always happy to bleat on chat about grammar. And I think we're all secretly scared of making a mistake when posting in Pedants' Corner.