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Erbilicious Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Could of vs could have

0i am attempting to explain the difference between could of and could have and really don't know if i am explaining it correctly or not.02br
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00My example is: 00I could 01u00of02u00 picked up the praying mantis to observe it, but that might 01u00of02u00 hurt the mantis.02br
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00I believe that is incorrect and corrected I have: 00I could 01u00have02u00 picked up the praying mantic to observe it, but that might 01u00have02u00 hurt the mantis.02br
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00Could someone check this and make sure I am doing this correctly? Any explanation would be greatly appreciated!!!0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00'of' is sometimes used in error in the place of 'have'. Presumably because in speech 'have' is often slurred/shortened to 've', which sounds more like 'of'. 0-

— Nona the brit

  • 02br 02br 00'of' is sometimes used in error in the place of 'have'.
  • Presumably because in speech 'have' is often slurred/shortened to 've', which sounds more like 'of'.
  • 0-
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21 Answers
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0You are correct.02br
02br
00'of' is sometimes used in error in the place of 'have'. Presumably because in speech 'have' is often slurred/shortened to 've', which sounds more like 'of'. 02br
02br
00Could of, would of, should of are always incorrect.0-
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0"Could of" is wrong, it does not exist. It is, however, easy to mix up "could have" and "could of", since it is normally pronounced in a slurred way and then it sounds like "could of".0-
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0 thanks a million... just wanted to check and make sure I was on the right track... 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Zerox12cite10"Could of" ... does not exist.12blockquote
10I suppose that has some paradoxical value.02br
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00/km0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite11blockquote
11cite20Zerox22cite20"Could of" ... does not exist.22blockquote
20I suppose that has some paradoxical value.12br
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10/km12br
12blockquote
10Well, of course.0-
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of ... is a preposition and is generally placed before a noun
eg. she is part OF a group. ( a group. the noun preceded by it's preposition)

could ... is an adverb which describes the verb
eg. she COULD be part OF the group ... (COULD describes the verb TO BE)

It follows from the above that the expression:

COULD OF has no sensible grammatical meaning.... (ie.
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Thank you so very much.

I have been thinking I had lost my mind without having noticed, as each time I saw "could of" or "would of", I became extremely infuriated.

Seeing the incorrect grammar on message boards, forums and on blogs, made me feel insulted and very angry. So much so, I would close the webpage, and fume for a little.

Speaking to others, I learned that the
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Could is in no way a adverb. It's the same as will or may/might. They are all auxiliary verbs.
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Does the use of 'of' instead of 'have' mean that you are unable to understand the meaning of what is being written or said? No, thought not...
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Correct. I think the of comes from the sound heard when the contraction 've is used. Could've sounds like could of.
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