Michael Poxon scripsit:
> Something I've noticed very much recently, certainly in British English; not
> just sound change, but syntactic change too. The ending /schwa+v/ found in
> "could've", "should've" etc., is being interpreted as "of" instead of a
> contraction of "have", and the emphatic response articulated as "You should
> of!" instead of "You should have" and so on. My kids (13 and 16) consider
> this perfect grammatical.
It's been going on over here since at least 1920.
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org
Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact,
at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door.
--sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan