Mar 10 2008
“Have” – Not “Of”
Something is wrong with the following sentences – the same error in each sentence. What is it?
- I could of won first place if I had worked a bit harder.
- The saddest words are, “What might of been?”
- I never should of turned my back on Emily.
Did you figure it out?
The problem is this: In each of the sentences, the verb “have” should of have been used instead of the preposition “of.” The corrected sentences would read:
- I could have won first place if I had worked a bit harder.
- The saddest words are, “What might have been?”
- I never should have turned my back on Emily.
One reason why this is an issue in the English language is because of the way we speak. We tend to slur our words rather than articulate them. When slurred, the word “have” sounds a lot like “of.” To make matter worse, we sometimes form contractions of the word pairs “could have,” “might have,” “should have” and so on. They become “could’ve,” “might’ve,” “should’ve,” etc. When we speak those contractions, they sound like “could of,” might of,” “should of,” etc.
Because our tendency is to write the way we speak, it is easy to carelessly substitute “of” for “have.”
Don’t do this! If you do, people will make fun of you. You will be demoted at work. Your personal relationships will fall apart. And, inexplicably (at least from a medical standpoint), you will be plagued with gumboils.
PS. Take your writing skills to a new level. Check out the real-world writing e-books now available for immediate download. Only $7. Click here.
