Why am I still seeing ‘could of’ and other really annoying stuff?

[Seymour5]

People have pointed out here on MN so often that surely everyone must be aware by now, that ‘could of’ makes no sense. It is ‘could have’ or ‘could’ve’. ‘Bare with me’ , is another, but I’m sure they don’t mean get naked! We will of course ‘bear with’ you.

‘My friend and I’ going somewhere is always more pleasant to read (or hear) than ‘me and my friend’ or the even worse ‘myself and my friend’.

I’m aware I’m pedantic, I know its all been said before, but I can’t stop an involuntary wince when I suddenly spot one or more of the above. And I don’t think I’m alone. Am i?

People can write however they choose. I might wince, but that doesn’t hurt anyone either.

You mean you might wince but then start a thread moaning about it?

Quite
Though I've been an English teacher since 1994 and don't feel the need to be a twat about people's SPaG on an internet forum.

How's this for an explanation though, OP.

You know those children we have in our classes, who are lovely kids, but no matter what we do, what they do, or what their parents do, they just don't get it? We often see their parents on here, upset because their children are being picked on for being thick, teased, and bullied.

Those children grow up. And they might still not know this stuff. And they might join internet forums and make mistakes.

And the bullies now are people like you.

How does that poster feel? That one who has written "could of" when they see a thread like this? (And there's already been two smug twatty threads today along these lines) How? Do they think "oh! I never realised, how grateful I should be to @Seymour5 for pointing it out to me". Or do they feel like the piece of shit you clearly consider them to be.

(I'm going back upthread now to check your English. I've already spotted you can't punctuate correctly)

Very British problems.

Could of makes sense to me.

I can ignore the typos and grammatical and spelling errors.

What I hate is seeing a wall of text, a paragraph or more long, with no full stops (let alone capital letters), written like a stream of consciousness.
Sometimes I think an OP's post looks like it could be interesting, but I just can't be bothered to try and parse out where the sentences should end to discern the meaning.

What I always find baffling is when people misuse/misspell words that are related to their profession. For example I know a mental health nurse that always talks about "councilling" people. And I recently witnessed an estate agent describing a "dorma bungalow". How is it possible that no one has ever corrected them?

Probably in the same way you were taught how to use commas.

How is it possible that no one has ever corrected them?

Brilliant.

A friend of mine (who is lovely BTW) always writes "Trickle Treating" in messages about our Halloween arrangements. Drives me bonkers!

'Am i?'
👀

'Plenty long enough'?

Very well said 👏👏👏

Yes, typo. Pity there isn't an edit option.

Pity you don't treat others mistakes as breezily as your own OP. Glass houses.

Typo. They're pretty obvious. I've never commented on typos.

I read a lot of 'we was' and 'you was' on Mumsnet. We and you are plural so the correct verb should be 'were'.

Also substituting 'affect' with 'effect'.

*Snort.

Silvercatowner, PhD, doesn't give a crap about the grammar mistakes that posters make. So many reasons - dyslexia, EAL, in a hurry, autocorrect. They really aren't doing it to piss you off.

@worraliberty

Yeah, my mums mum died when she was a toddler & her upbringing involved her living with neighbours & in an orphanage (my grandad worked away) her SPAG is atrocious. She tried hard as an adult to improve, but it just wouldn't stick. My best friend is an amazing person, with great parents, but her SPAG is dire. She'd be great on MN, but won't come near it!!
dhe spells phonetically do I can totally read what she writes, but it can be 'interesting'. She reads more than anyone I know & she's got a good job, she just doesn't write any of their published material 😂

people like the OP really fuck me off

@Seymour5

not like this, no.

people like you stop people posting here. It's cruel & unnecessary.

pedants corner if you really must.

oh and I do understand how capital letters work. I'm just not arsing about eith something that @MNHQ need to put back to how the world work & was messed up with the great update!!

I can't see anything wrong with the last example.
I could do that for my friend. + I could do that for myself.
= I could do that for my friend and myself.

'that' might be anything e.g. mowing the lawn, carrying the shopping...

I haven't seen this thread before today so I am guessing that it started life on Chat and came over to Pedants' Corner.

If anyone wants to edit, use Preview before you post. Preview gives the option of editting. Does the word 'editting' need a double t?

I expect there are several reasons why people don't realise that 'could of' is wrong, and it should be 'could have'.

You are not alone in wincing. I wince when people say "There's multiple reasons for these mistakes." I say to myself, "There are many reasons for these mistakes." I shout in kitchens and bedrooms and fields, " Which schoolteachers in this country are teaching children that 'there's' is short for 'there are?", and I start threads about it.

If you just say 'could have' quick enough it becomes 'could'uv' which sounds rather like 'could of' so that's what people assume it is.

That’s the old excuse!

They assume that if they have no idea of what grammar is.
The contraction “could’ve” is could have in full. The word “ have” is a verb.
As for “could of “ that makes no sense whatsoever. The word “of” is a preposition not a verb.

They assume that if they have no idea of what grammar is.

Shouldn't this sentence have a comma after 'that'? Otherwise it sounds incomplete.

I don't actually care (I think these threads are mean spirited), but if you're going to have a pop at other people's grammar then you should at least check that your own is correct.