I find this so annoying!

It annoys me, too, and is probably due as much to lazy speech as it is to ignorance.

No it's not just you!

Yes, equally annoying as there instead of their………..no doubt there is countless more.

Spot on.
I think people just repeat what others say is they are unsure.

* if they are unsure

A friend of mine (68) uses "of" in that way. She also gets confused between their/they're and there, as well as to/to/two, which I find astonishing at that age.

Bored of (instead of with) also seems to have taken root.

Oh, Winterwhite, I do hate " bored of" used instead of "bored with".
I also detest "different to" used when "different from" is correct.

Does anyone else find the lack of punctuation an irritation, when reading some posters' contributions?

There is one poster who repeatedly mentions her grammar school education, yet fails to use punctuation in her contributions, which makes them very difficult to unravel at times.

Ah, time to dig up this old chestnut -

A woman without her man is nothing.

or

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Or eats,shoots and leaves. Whereas eats shoots and leaves. My favourite.

Grannycool52

Does anyone else find the lack of punctuation an irritation, when reading some posters' contributions?

There is one poster who repeatedly mentions her grammar school education, yet fails to use punctuation in her contributions, which makes them very difficult to unravel at times.

I don’t recall that, but it wouldn’t put me off reading.
The only posts that do put me off are the very very long ones, often with links or mentions of what other posters say.

Stansgran

Or eats,shoots and leaves. Whereas eats shoots and leaves. My favourite.

I used to have that book😃

BoggledMind

I'm new here so please accept my apologies if it's been mentioned before.

There seems to be an increasing use of the the word 'of' instead of 've. For example:
Could of, should of, would of, instead of could've, should've, would've.

I can’t believe that a lot of people don’t realise the 've is short for 'have'. Could have, should have, would have.

I'm seeing this error more often and can only assume it's because people write it as they say it.

As Terry Wogan would say, "Is it me?"

The spelling of what sounds equally like 'of' and ' 've' is not important.

Pedantry appeals to me personally ,however a living language changes with social usage and all our pedantry can't stop this happening nor should it.

HowVeryDareYou2

A friend of mine (68) uses "of" in that way. She also gets confused between their/they're and there, as well as to/to/two, which I find astonishing at that age.

Why would you be astonished that anyone is ill -informed about conventional spelling? Few people read well -written books.

A lot of people in their 50s will not have been taught grammar at school. I wasn't

I got an A in my English GCSE

Grannycool52

Does anyone else find the lack of punctuation an irritation, when reading some posters' contributions?

There is one poster who repeatedly mentions her grammar school education, yet fails to use punctuation in her contributions, which makes them very difficult to unravel at times.

I marvel at Grans who are patient enough to unravel certain AIBU contributions.

I suspect that if certain AIBU problems were written with appropriate punctuation and paragraphing then the troubled individual would have a clearer idea of the problem and its solution.

Caleo

BoggledMind

I'm new here so please accept my apologies if it's been mentioned before.

There seems to be an increasing use of the the word 'of' instead of 've. For example:
Could of, should of, would of, instead of could've, should've, would've.

I can’t believe that a lot of people don’t realise the 've is short for 'have'. Could have, should have, would have.

I'm seeing this error more often and can only assume it's because people write it as they say it.

As Terry Wogan would say, "Is it me?"

The spelling of what sounds equally like 'of' and ' 've' is not important.

Pedantry appeals to me personally ,however a living language changes with social usage and all our pedantry can't stop this happening nor should it.

I think texting has led to many spellings being abbreviate and the original word and its spelling being lost.

What strikes me about could of, would of, etc is that it's fine vocally but if words then get written with 'of' instead of 'have', it becomes nonsense.

'Have' is a part of the preceding verb and leads to action, 'of' is a preposition used to suggest a relationship between words and something which is part of something else, 'a box 'of' toys'.

Of course, languages change but there's nothing wrong with people noticing and in some places, law courts, science fields, perhaps education, etc., it might be important to spell correctly.

And don't blame me for the 'd' being missed off abbreviate in line one of the above. AI is currently doing a great job of demolishing the sense of what we write!!

I also think our phones correct postings and spellings to incorrect words as well. Mine likes to make me look stupid

Granatlast007

Caleo

BoggledMind

I'm new here so please accept my apologies if it's been mentioned before.

There seems to be an increasing use of the the word 'of' instead of 've. For example:
Could of, should of, would of, instead of could've, should've, would've.

I can’t believe that a lot of people don’t realise the 've is short for 'have'. Could have, should have, would have.

I'm seeing this error more often and can only assume it's because people write it as they say it.

As Terry Wogan would say, "Is it me?"

The spelling of what sounds equally like 'of' and ' 've' is not important.

Pedantry appeals to me personally ,however a living language changes with social usage and all our pedantry can't stop this happening nor should it.

I think texting has led to many spellings being abbreviate and the original word and its spelling being lost.

What strikes me about could of, would of, etc is that it's fine vocally but if words then get written with 'of' instead of 'have', it becomes nonsense.

'Have' is a part of the preceding verb and leads to action, 'of' is a preposition used to suggest a relationship between words and something which is part of something else, 'a box 'of' toys'.

Of course, languages change but there's nothing wrong with people noticing and in some places, law courts, science fields, perhaps education, etc., it might be important to spell correctly.

I agree. There is a linguistic theory that there are two "language codes". One code applies to the everyday, and the other code applies to "law courts, science fields, perhaps education, etc.,"

Apparently, we have to accept that language evolves. Whether it be "could of " ..or " cud a" .; theres a huge difference between written and spoken language. Personally, I think we need to teach correct written grammar to avoid misunderstandings.

Quite

HowVeryDareYou2

A friend of mine (68) uses "of" in that way. She also gets confused between their/they're and there, as well as to/to/two, which I find astonishing at that age.

She may be much better than you are at algebra or trigonometry using log tables.
And equally astonished.