He would of never done that to a white woman....

[sondra]

Hello,

Could you explain to me the use of 'of' in this sentence?

He would of never done that to a white woman.

Is it possible to say; He would of never have done that to a white woman.

Thanks

[TheParser]

Hello,

Could you explain to me the use of 'of' in this sentence?

He would of never done that to a white woman.

Is it possible to say; He would of never have done that to a white woman.

Thanks

NOT A TEACHER


(1) I think that the use of "of" is a mistake committed by both native and non-native

speakers.

(2) "Of course," the correct sentence is:

He would have never done that to a ....

(3) The explanation for this mistake, I hear, is that in conversation, people say:

He would've never done that to a ....

(a) Maybe the 've sounds like "of."

[sondra]

I have been so confused by 'of' in this sentence too.

'He is not deserving of love.'

And here too;

'Hello. Sorry there. Been a bit neglectful. Busy of late.'

So it has nothing to do with formal English, does it?

Thanks

[Barb_D]

In your first example, the "of" is wrong. People hear "of" when it's spoken "would've" just as Parser says, so they write "would of" instead of "would have." It's a fairly common mistake, but it is a mistake.

In the examples in your second post, those are all correct uses of "of."

The first is a fairly formal construction. "He's not deserving of X" means "He doesn't deserve X."

"I've been busy of late" means "I've been busy lately" or "Recently, I've been busy."