Grammatically Correct 7/1/08
A weekly grammar tip created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors.
University of Houston-Victoria
3007 N. Ben Wilson
Victoria, TX 77901

Phrases to Avoid: “Could of, Should of, Would of”
The Author

Sophia Stevens attended UHV until 2007 and will graduate with a B.A. in English from Rice University in May 2009. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and exploring foreign cultures, reading books of choice not assigned in any of her numerous English courses, trying to save the world in small ways, and thinking in paradoxes--and just thinking.

Language is subject to transformations over time, many of which spring from our own misunderstandings of proper usage. Some commonly misused phrases are could of, should of, and would of; these phrases are misspellings of the contractions could've, should've, and would've.

One problem with these verb constructions is that of is a preposition. As a preposition, of must have an object. Examples of prepositions (bolded in the following examples) with objects (in italics) include on the table, for Jacob, around the courtyard, and after Saturday.

The preposition of ends up in these phrases because of the way we read and pronounce these contractions. Therefore, of sometimes mistakenly replaces have in the following contractions: should’ve, could’ve, and would’ve. Read them out loud, and you’ll notice that the “’ve” does, in fact, sound almost like “of.”

Should have (Correct) ► Should’ve (Correct) ► Should of (Wrong)

Could have (Correct) ► Could’ve (Correct) ► Could of (Wrong)

Would have (Correct) ► Would’ve (Correct) ► Would of (Wrong)

Test Your Knowledge

Test your knowledge of these verb forms by correcting the sentences below. Mark C if the sentence is correct.

1. If Cary had ordered in French, the waiter could have understood her better.

2. I think you should of run for office; you could of won!

3. This species would’ve been around much longer had we not wiped out its habitat.

4. Did he call? No, he couldn’t of; he was on a flight to Paris.


Answers

1. If Cary had ordered in French, the waiter could have understood her better. C

2. I think you should have run for office; you could have won!

3. This species would’ve been around much longer had we not wiped out its habitat. C

4. Did he call? No, he couldn’t; he was on a flight to Paris. (also couldn’t have)


 

Suggested Resources
Related Academic Center Resources

Want to learn about other phrases to avoid?  Read Sophia Stevens' discussion of Phrases to Avoid: Irregardless (published on 10/24/07) or, for more general advice, read Candice Chovanec Melzow's discussion of Concise Sentences: Reducing Expletive Constructions (published on 12/6/05).
 

Recommended Grammar Website of the Week

In addition to our website, we recommend that you visit http://www.bartleby.com/68/18/3918.html and be sure to follow the links to “COULD” and “SHOULD.” Its discussion of modal auxiliaries is taken from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English.

 
 

Grammatically Correct is a grammar tip of the week created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas.

Comments about this newsletter should be directed to Summer Leibensperger, leibenspergers@uhv.edu.

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