interesting linguistic divergence in English
I've noticed an "error" that some local people make when writing messages: a few people have been writing "would of" instead of "would've"
At first, my Editor brain wanted to correct them, but then my linguistics brain took over – this is really interesting!
"would have" has a derivable meaning – each word stands alone, and you can easily figure it out:
"I have done it"
"I would have done it"
(cont)
interesting linguistic divergence in English
"would of", on the other hand, is a compound – you cannot divide it into individual words, because you can't say "I of done it"
but you* CAN say "I would of done it"
so we have this divergence where a formerly derivable phrase is becoming a compound!
*"you" means "a speaker who considers this grammatically valid"
re: interesting linguistic divergence in English
@lizardsquid me meanwhile, living in 3018: "I'd've done it"
