3 ms·
Curiously, this mistake of "than/then", or similar the grating "would of" instead of would've, I only ever see native speakers do.
by ralfd 7y ago
Curiously, this mistake of "than/then", or similar the grating "would of" instead of would've, I only ever see native speakers do.
- frabert 7y agoI think it could be easily attributed to the fact that most non-native speakers learn English at school by studying its grammar in written form, where the two words are distinct. Native speakers, instead, learn English as their spoken language, where the words sound basically identical to each other.
- notRobot 7y agoYes, true. "have" and "of" don't sound same at all in almost all non-native accents which helps.
- notRobot 7y agoTrue. Non-native speakers learn the language a lot more "explicitly" so they make mistakes like these a lot less often. Another pet peeves: "irregardless" isn't a word. It's regardless. If you don't care about something, you "couldn't care less about it". It's simple logic and yet people mess it up all the time.
- kylebyproxy 7y agoI've only noticed it enter common usage recently, but I cringe whenever someone fails at using the word "devoid".
- moonbug 7y ago"would of" and "would've" sound indistinguishable when spoken in many anglophone accents. If it irritates you when you see it written, that just indicates you're a snob.
- galoisgirl 7y agoAs a non-native, I learned "then" and "than" in different contexts, months if not years apart. I also learned them in speech and in writing at the same time. Please don't quiz me on how to read bear, pear, tear, fear, spear, clear, and dear.