Grammar Polizei

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gac108

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Cortes said:
I really like this proposal, especially the quality of the cladding. Per the picture, though, I wish that they chose to make this two buildings, and have one as tall as 118 Huntington right behind this stately building on St Boltoph. It would of provided superior egress for the neighborhood. They could of gone crazy and given a couple parking spaces to 146 Boltoph and made a real swanky little area right here...
Anyway, a guy can dream.
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Not to be "that guy", but I think this site is filled with highly educated people, so when I see "could of" or "would of" instead of "could've" or "would've", it just makes me scratch my head. I see it all over social media by people with advanced degrees, but I also saw it in posts by the recent former president, so... just an fyi for how it can be perceived by readers.
 
gac108 said:
Not to be "that guy", but I think this site is filled with highly educated people, so when I see "could of" or "would of" instead of "could've" or "would've", it just makes me scratch my head. I see it all over social media by people with advanced degrees, but I also saw it in posts by the recent former president, so... just an fyi for how it can be perceived by readers.
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gac108 said:
Not to be "that guy", but I think this site is filled with highly educated people, so when I see "could of" or "would of" instead of "could've" or "would've", it just makes me scratch my head. I see it all over social media by people with advanced degrees, but I also saw it in posts by the recent former president, so... just an fyi for how it can be perceived by readers.
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I used both phrases. I wished they would of because they should of....the whole point was I was wishing...like I said, I like the project even without my suggestion. Come on guy...or is that not proper...
 
gac108 said:
Not to be "that guy", but I think this site is filled with highly educated people, so when I see "could of" or "would of" instead of "could've" or "would've", it just makes me scratch my head. I see it all over social media by people with advanced degrees, but I also saw it in posts by the recent former president, so... just an fyi for how it can be perceived by readers.
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"Could of" is understood by native and fluent English speakers; as a non-prescriptivist grammarian, I don't even bat an eyelash.

However, the use of ellipses on the internet to replace commas is absolutely a red line.
 
Cortes said:
I used both phrases. I wished they would of because they should of....the whole point was I was wishing...like I said, I like the project even without my suggestion. Come on guy...or is that not proper...
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It isn't proper because in all of those cases it should be "have" and not "of". It's because "could've", "would've", "should've" are all contractions containing "have" and when you say them, the "'ve" sounds a bit like "of", so people type it like it sounds. I've had conversations with people I went to college with who legitimately didn't remember the difference, so when I brought it up to them, they actually appreciated the correction because they are in positions where making fairly basic grammatical mistakes in emails can come across negatively to clients. Take it or leave it, learn it or don't. It's just an FYI.
 
ra84970 said:
"Could of" is understood by native and fluent English speakers; as a non-prescriptivist grammarian, I don't even bat an eyelash.

However, the use of ellipses on the internet to replace commas is absolutely a red line.
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I use ellipses as a pregnant pause, one that is longer than would be read with a comma. They are certainly overused nowadays, and I am just as guilty as others.
 
Cortes said:
I used both phrases. I wished they would of because they should of....the whole point was I was wishing...like I said, I like the project even without my suggestion. Come on guy...or is that not proper...
Click to expand...

It's the reading version of having to look at a VE'd project ;)
 
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