I would of ..

OH THANK GOODNESS! I actually thought, when I began reading, that you were seriously using those terms and coming to some other point. I'm so glad that someone is giving some grammar/language lessons around here. I mean, obviously not everyone can spell all that wonderfully, and there are definitely a tonne of people with limited vocabularies, but how difficult is it to learn and remember simple things like this. I'm not long out of school, but even at school, where it's being taught, kids are getting away with things like this every single day. One of my pet peeves is "than" and "then". How can people who have passed 6th grade not know the difference? So many people say things like "I'm no better then you" etc, and it gets right under my skin. Spelling and grammar of school-age children and teenagers is getting worse, and unfortunately I think it does have a lot to do with the internet and mobile phones, where people are too lazy to complete a sentence with correct punctuation, grammar, spelling and few abbreviations. Even friends of mine who are really intelligent just lose the plot once they get on a computer and start with the text speak and think that numbers are interchangeable with letters and words. "C u 2mo m8 n will (not we'll, a lot of that kind of thing these days also) sk8 ova 2 da sh0ps" for one quite awful example =P I don't understand why people have difficulty with or think it's so time-consuming to correspond using some kind of acknowledged and complete language. =D

Ok, now I am feeling like I have my old English teacher back.. (btw, that is a good thing, I loved English and my teacher..) I say "would've,could've, or should've" which is would have,could have or should have, but shorter.. And now that I typed it, it shows that should've is not correct, but the other two is showing the correct spelling which makes it correct to say, correct????

I have never used this contraction because I know it doesn't exist. Most people don't know and the add it to the language, but the greatest thing about language is that it constantly evolves and one day all the colloquialisms we see now well gradually make their way into the dictionary. The biggest think I see is noone, that does not exist it is no one.

No, I don't say it. I either say would have, or use the contaction. I hate when people do that. Sometimes I do say oh for zero, but not often. I try not to do that.

How do you know if they are saying would've or would of unless it is written? I am just going to say "woulda, coulda and shoulda"! My husband and I talk about the word "irregardless" when it should be "regardless".

Yes I do the "oh" thing occasionally but not the "of" - and I am trying my hardest not to say "oh" particularly now I have children of my own & I want them to speak correctly.

I tend to use the contractions--'I would've done X, Y & Z'. I also say, 'I could have done that'. I think it's a combination of several problems: [i]- Lazy teachers who just pass kids year after year, without ensuring that students know the basics of grammar and spelling, as well as how to write a sentence! - Parents who don't enforce correct grammar (I raised my daughter to say 'May I have another drink?', not 'Can I have another drink?'. You CAN have one, but you MAY no have one! - Outside influences, such as the media and internet.[/i] My freshman English teacher wanted to ensure that we could all spell. I have phenomenal spelling skills 22 years later, but I've never had the opportunity to read Romeo and Juliet! (What is Romeo and Juliet going to teach me anyway?)

You are very articulate....and absolutely correct on this issue. I just hope a lot of people who need to actually read your post and learn from it. Another word which bothers me greatly is 'git' for 'get'. Do you think English is taught like it used to be taught in the grade schools? I don't think kids today diagram sentences or spend much time at all on grammar. Oh, well. Have a good weekend.

Maybe you are an english teacher. You cannot blame others using that maybe because english is not their medium of instructions. I myself, although English is also our medium of instruction other than our own language, I am also not so good in the language. This word, has, have, happen, happens, happened I always interchanged the usage. The present tense, the past tense and the future tense, I sometimes use it incorrectly. Bear with me and the others.

Thankfully, I never have said "would of." I have always either said would have or would've (same with should and could). If writing something more business oriented, would write would have; if to a friend, I would write would've. It's just ignorance that makes people say things like would of. I don't even think they try to teach English anymore! Someone mentioned spell-check...I hate spell-check, too! It finds errors with everything.

ldyjarhead you are so right and I catch myself doing that all the time. I was taught better' years ago but have slipped into this would of could of should of thing. I know better and I would have if I could have but I know I should have used have all the time. I am going to clean up my act and put of only where it makes sense.

Speaking of whining... hahaha! I think I say "have" when I say it the "long way"...but I usually say it using the contraction. And if I say all three, I say "uh"... woulda, coulda, shoulda...!

I guess I talk differently at home than out in public. It really depends on the situation. At home I'm more laid back and if I am at a fancy event I, of course, watch my pronounciation and grammer much more than I do at home. My husband is from Jordan and his native language is Arabic, not English. Did you know that English is actually the most difficult language to learn?! There are so many different slang terms that we have invented through the years. My husband just turned 33 years old, today actually, and began learning English in the 5th grade in Jordan. He still has to ask me every now and then what a certain phrase means. I barely know any Arabic. I really really need to start working on it. I have never been very good at learning foreign languages. I took French in high school for two years and struggled to get C's. Now, my sister, on the other hand, picks up languages very easily and accents too. Ok, I'm getting a little off topic... yes, I believe that people really need to get back to the basics and re-learn our own language in America. Most of us know what is proper & correct English, but just do not bother to speak the way we should.

I may pronounce it that way, but I don't write it that way. But if you want to get that out of the language, why not remove the following things that are rampant: loose for lose to for too your for you're their or there for they're it's for its etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately, those things seem to have crept in and there's probably no getting them out!