could of
Written speech error
Could of is a common misspelling of "could have" or its contraction "could've," which sounds identical in speech.
The same error produces "would of" and "should of." In writing, could of is considered a mistake: I could've helped is correct, not I could of helped.
- should'vePast obligation unfulfilled
- malapropismSound-alike word confusion
- might'veContraction of possibility past
- typoPrinting mistake
- must'veContraction indicating past necessity
eye dialect · social media · slang · can't · vernacular · isn't · dangling modifier · won't · aren't · colloquialism · comma splice · regionalism · idiom · split infinitive · double negative · grammatical error · run-on sentence · would've
- word errorseggcorn, malapropism, would of, for all intensive purposes, escape goat
- grammar debatesirregardless, ain't, split infinitive, singular they, would of
grammatical correctness
could ofcould have
Past possibility expression
could've · should have · would have · might have · proper grammar