Of instead of have
By MarkyB21
@MarkyB21 (1545)
September 17, 2007 8:10am CST
I've just been reading a discussion site where someone kept using the word 'of' where they should have used 'have' (as I have in the previous sentence).
I realise people do this because they say 'should've' as an abbreviation of 'should have' and then they seem to think it's 'should of'.
Do you do this or have you noticed people that do?
If you do this yourself, are you aware that it's wrong or did you not know?
To those of you who’ve noticed it – does it bother you? It bothers me (but then I seem to worry about these things that no-one else cares about!).
Thanks, as always, for all (on-topic and original) responses!
1 person likes this
5 responses
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
17 Sep 07
I notice those things most of the time. It doesn't bother me if I already expect such of the person I'm talking to, but it does bother me if they were someone I previously admired. What an elitist response!
I'm sure I have been guilty of doing this before myself. In fact, I can't think of many grammar mistakes that most people haven't made, especially if writing while tired or in a hurry. I haven't caught myself doing "of" instead of "have" but I have caught myself in misspellings, strange sentence structure, and run-on sentences before. It always makes me slap my forehead and think of the ghost of my father's English teacher. (That's a bit of a long story, but my father used to talk about being haunted by the ghost of his English teacher a LOT.)
1 person likes this
@MarkyB21 (1545)
•
18 Sep 07
I agree that we all make mistakes with grammar at some point or other and it can't really be helped - there are just a few things that some people always seem to do and I wondered if they choose to do it that way or if they simply don't realise it's not 'correct'.
I dread to think of the number of times on MyLot where I've posted a comment only to notice a typo or spelling mistake! (and a certain bear takes pleasure in pointing it out to me on occasion!)
1 person likes this
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
18 Sep 07
Aren't picky bears just soooo much fun??? *giggles*
(Of course if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have come here by stalking.)
I do wonder sometimes if people are doing something on purpose when I see them make the same error repeatedly. I don't mind a little bit of bad grammar since we all do it, but I've honestly seen people whom I thought weren't native English speakers until they told me otherwise. *shudders*
1 person likes this
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
18 Sep 07
It did bother me for a while but I learned to ignore it when I realized that there are so many people from other countries on the 'net who do this without even knowing it is wrong. I even made a blog about common English grammar errors. The 4 words that bother me the most are "than" (used when it should be) "then" and "their" (used when it should be) "there".
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Maybe it, too, should be on my blog.
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@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
18 Sep 07
Homonyms...There, Their and They're, is the first post on my blog.
I see this mistake on websites that the owners have paid thousands of dollars to copywriters for their salesletters. I do proofreading and this is the most misused words on any website/blog. Then and than, your and you're come in second and third. I have yet to find one using "of" in place of "have" even though it too is a common grammar error. Please visit and let me know what you think of the blog.
http://common-grammar-errors.blogspot.com
1 person likes this
@cuddlebug79705 (2003)
• United States
18 Sep 07
I worry about those things no one cares about too, you are not alone. Maybe they don't speak english as a first language and they have misunderstood something.
1 person likes this
@MarkyB21 (1545)
•
18 Sep 07
There's a long list of these issues that bother me, that few people seem to notice or care about - I'll just keep posting them on MyLot and hope that eventually I can deal with other people's mistakes (as I get a feeling I can't make everyone else act the way I'd like!!)
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
19 Sep 07
Oh this does bother me, like when people say 'axe' instead of 'ask'. I understand when English maybe a 2nd language, but there is no excepting these things when English is the native language of the writer.
My boss was born and raised in the US and he has the worse grammar I have ever seen. He is barely literate. The thing is, when he is corrected, he doesn't care.
I have seen people asking for English help on here, in fact I just responded to a discussion where the author asked for help. We have a great learning tool here, it amazes me that people don't take advantage of it.
1 person likes this
@vicki2876 (5636)
• Canada
17 Sep 07
I really haven't noticed this but I think because some topics are done by people who have english as a second language I see a lot of grammar mistakes anyways. Also sometimes we just spell things wrong. As long as I get the main idea of the topic and I have something I can add to the discussion I don't worry too much about it. I hop you aren't upset or annoyed at my poor grammar or spelling. HEHE
1 person likes this
@MarkyB21 (1545)
•
17 Sep 07
Thanks for your response Vicki.
It wasn't this site I was talking about - it was a professional discussion board for people who I would expect to have a better understanding of the English language.
It's something I have noticed many times in the past and just wondered if people were aware of it or not.
