“Could/would/should of”

This common mistake arises because the contracted form of “could have” – “could’ve” – sounds a bit like “could of” when you say it out loud. This mistake is made frequently across all three of these words.

The rules:

When people write “should of”, what they really mean is “should have”.

Written down, the shortened version of “should have” is “should’ve”.

“Should’ve” and “Should have” are both correct; the latter is more formal.

How not to do it:

We could of gone there today

I would of done it sooner

You should of said

How to do it properly:

We could’ve gone there today

I would have done it sooner

You should’ve said