Of of of of of of of of of of

[BrickBiscuit]

That's the approximate number of rogue 'of's I have seen on Mumsnet posts today alone. 'Should of', 'would of', even an 'I of' somewhere. It is spread by repetition. Should we counter by correcting every instance we can, and enforce the correct use of 'have' by repetition?

Incidentally, my title is an old crossword clue. Do solve it if you like.

YABU: no, we should leave the 'of' people unchallenged;
YANBU: yes, let's have a campaign to correct each and every instance of the error.

Often!

It’s heartening for me to see so many people such as editors who really know spelling and grammar also recognising that not all of us on MN do. Thank you to the ones who refrain from correcting unless a poster has asked for help.

Now, for example I know that the first sentence of this post is a bit long but not sure how to split it up. Can anyone suggest something better? Also should the first sentence of this paragraph have a comma after “for example”?
Thanks

Edited to add question mark.

I went to visit a school (as a teacher - it was supposed to be a sparkling example, it wasn't) and after we'd looked round the Deputy Head said 'so you've all saw lots of things'. I'm afraid I wouldn't necessarily hold out much hope.

This was about 11 years ago.

Evening, all. We've moved this thread over to Pedants' Corner as it didn't feel like an AIBU and we thought it might sit better here.

Thank you Hebe.

Well as already pointed out that makes it just pointless preaching to the choir.

It’s not attacking it’s correcting.

Correcting people is unnecessary unless they've asked for that sort of feedback. There are posters who correct people's SPAG or make remarks about their written English when it's entirely irrelevant to the topic under discussion. MNHQ quite rightly delete their comments if they're reported.

It is a declarative question, if you write it like this:

I can't work out any other way to pronounce it, though...?

...which is how I read it and, I am pretty sure, how it was intended.

The question mark was not incorrect, it just signalled uncertainty. PP was inviting a response. There was no need to "correct" them.

Correcting people is unnecessary unless they've asked for that sort of feedback

It's very satisfying, though.

Any thoughts on the argument about excessive commas, anyone? Is that a whole new thread? I like to separate my thoughts with a pause, but understand others might like the uninterrupted flow?

How on earth could that be a declarative question?

Are you saying she is unsure as to whether or not she can work out any other way to pronounce it? Do you not think she would know the answer to that?

Question marks are for asking questions, not for signalling uncertainty.

Complaining about excessive commas would be bizarre, given that comma use has been drastically decreasing.

Now that this thread is in Pedants’ Corner, it will probably increase the number of pedantic corrections being levelled at previous posters and their posts.

Will nobody spare a thought for the Oxford Comma?

We can but hope.
🤣

If you get your kicks from making people feel inferior, maybe. In any case, MNHQ delete the posts of people who do it.

I also worked in a role where correct Spag was essential. I automatically register any errors, and they really grate, but I just can't help it!
I have now discovered the pedants' threads...

Pedantry about language is one of the ways my autism manifests itself

Same here.

You're saying there's only one kind of question...?

See what I did there? 🤓

www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-declarative-question-1690372

kinda this and kinda that 😬

@ilovesootyAgree, but it’s definitely fair game in Pedants Corner. And my, isn’t “should of” irritating.

Pedants' Corner.

But spoken and written English are different things. I think you’d have had to be listening quite assiduously to hear an of / have spoken on the news. They sound so similar which is why the written problem has arisen. I’m sure journalists on the bbc know the difference. I’d never write “of” but I doubt you’d be able to tell if I said it. Especially as I have a (probably disappointing to you) unfashionable regional accent.

🤣