Alot, should of

[Nautiesdese]

Abit. Afew. Could go on.

I'm in mainland UK, and the standards aren't high.

I employed a secretary who typed would of and could of throughout all the letters she produced on her first day. When I corrected her, she insisted I was wrong as she had a GCSE A* in English and I'd had to resit my GCE O'level!

Seeing ‘our’ written as ‘are’ is one that’s really grating on me at the moment.

How was she on day 2?

Well done Growlybear83!

Good to see you living up to your name. 😁

This.

I have heard people say 'of' incorrectly in speech, on occasions when someone has enunciated each word for emphasis, and left no doubt which words they were using. I have even heard a TV broadcaster do this on air.

Hate that! Yes always put the other person first but it’s John and me if it’s ’Are you coming with John amd me?’ But it’s John and I if it’s ’John and I would like to thank you all.’ Am I right?

Really low standards. I see students on placement at my primary school all the time. It is shocking, sadly.

Some are excellent and some poor.
Same with TAs.

The argument I see on here is that poor English could be because of it not being their first language.
IMO, the errors made depend on how you learnt English. I know plenty of non-native English speakers with excellent English because they were taught properly.

Yes but the "of" mistake originated from people mis-hearing the contraction or the elision of "would" and "have," which is a common feature of spoken English in many accents.

It is certainly a pedantry too far for people to object to, or worse, correct people for speaking the contraction or the elision.

But if people speak incorrectly, they ARE wrong, and why not object or correct them if reasonable in the circumstances.

It isn't. They aren't saying 'would've' or 'woulduv'/'wouldov', they are saying 'would of'. I can hear the space just as in 'end of'.

Some might be, but many are not.

Again, the written mistake is a result of the way many English speakers have pronounced those words in many different accents for a very long time.

It's very tricky to try to correct someone because you might be merely correcting an accent, which is pretty offensive.

Not if they are your children or if it's written.

You listen to people saying it. The words are distinct.

I don't find it tricky correcting people but I'll choose when to do so.
I've seen 'should of' in an email at work from a colleague who really should have known better and didn't correct him, but my opinion of him went down a few notches.

Had it been in something customer-facing, I would have corrected him.

Accent is no excuse. My grammar is not affected by my accent.

You are making excuses. I am glad my parents and some teachers told me to enunciate clearly.

Ah fair enough. I’ve not come across that yet but suspect it’s only a matter of time given how prevalent it is in written form…

Alot. Abit.
Lay in.
Rando'm apo'strophe's.
We was.
Could of. Should of.
'Please come and speak to myself if you have a problem'.
'Reign it in'

And a relative newcomer- discrete instead of discreet.

Getting off the internet does help, I find. I don't do that nearly enough.

But how do you determine what is incorrect when there are so many different accents of spoken English?

I have a regional accent that often does not differentiate between "of" and " 've". And I usually elide "would have." I certainly know the correct form in writing, but I would not appreciate my speech being "corrected."

This is actually a fairly easy rule. Take out the other person and use either I or me. So “I gave it”, therefore “John and I gave it”; “it was given to me” therefore “ it was given to John and me”.

If you say 'would've' you won't be. If you say 'would of' you might.

Listen to the people who say 'I would of' for 'I would've', they also say 'I of' for 'I've'.
That is not due to their accent.

Also hate: there/their/they’re and your/you’re. It’s really not that hard!
Saw onsuite earlier too 🤦‍♀️

There is not here. They're is they are.