must have, should have, could have, would have - aaaaargh

Man of Honour
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29 Mar 2003
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I've had a drink so I'm going to tell you just how much this annoys me.

I would have done it
I must have seen it
I could have had one of those
I should have had English lessons

When did it all go wrong?
 
As someone with English as their second language, I wonder about one thing.

Are they genuine errors (the person thinks it's the correct English spelling) or is it a way of speaking in some areas of the UK? Accent/slang?
 
As someone with English as their second language, I wonder about one thing.

Are they genuine errors (the person thinks it's the correct English spelling) or is it a way of speaking in some areas of the UK? Accent/slang?

I think it's because 'could've' sounds like 'could have'
 
As someone with English as their second language, I wonder about one thing.

Are they genuine errors (the person thinks it's the correct English spelling) or is it a way of speaking in some areas of the UK? Accent/slang?

I read the other day that people do this because they have heard words spoken like must've, should've, could've and mistaken the 've for 'of' and then write it down.
 
As someone with English as their second language, I wonder about one thing.

Are they genuine errors (the person thinks it's the correct English spelling) or is it a way of speaking in some areas of the UK? Accent/slang?

It's probably chav speak tbh. That's not a trolling comment either, it's just lazy people who don't pronounce things in real life and it transfers over to their typing. The same as the people who says there instead of their, then instead of than and are instead of our.
 
My main annoyances are those who say things such as:

I done that
you know the thing what I done yesterday

(examples from work)

My niece is notorious for speaking like this as well and if I correct her she'll just say "yeah whatever" then carry on talking :rolleyes: To be fair, teachers are restricted now on how many spelling mistakes they can mark so if they aren't teaching her the correct way then it's understandable she has grown up talking like this.

Another popular one is bought and brought. "i brought a new TV today" I will normally reply with "where did you bring it from?" which completely confuses the person.
 
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If I got angry about this then I would have had an aneurism by now. My gf pronounces "I'll" as "are". As in, "Are meet you after work for hot sexy time". Her confusion with commas and full stops also tests my zen. "Of"? This is of no consequence in my Bristolian world of grammatical carnage.
 
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