Why Is “Could Of” Incorrect?

The phrase “could of” is a mishearing of “could have” in spoken English. Here’s why:

1. When native speakers say “could have” quickly, it often sounds like “could’ve”.
   • Example: “I could’ve gone to the party.”
   • The contraction “could’ve” can sound very similar to “could of”.
2. However, “of” is not a helping verb in English, so it cannot replace “have” in this context. Grammatically, “of” here is incorrect because it doesn’t serve the same function as “have”.

Why Should It Be “Could Have”?

Could have (or its contraction could’ve) is a modal verb phrase. Let’s understand its role:

• The word could is a modal verb used to express possibility, ability, or hypothetical situations.
• The word have combines with the past participle of a verb to talk about something that might have happened in the past but didn’t.
  • Example: “I could have helped you, but you didn’t ask.”

Examples

Let’s compare the correct and incorrect usage:

1. ✅ Correct: “She could have won the race if she had trained harder.” ❌ Incorrect: “She could of won the race if she had trained harder.”
2. ✅ Correct: “They could have finished the project on time.” ❌ Incorrect: “They could of finished the project on time.”

Pro Tip: How to Avoid the Mistake

When writing, always expand the contraction could’ve into could have. This helps you avoid mistakenly writing “could of”.

Quick Practice

Fill in the blanks with could have or could’ve:

1. I ________ joined the team, but I was too shy to try out.
2. You ________ passed the test if you had studied a little more.
3. They ________ avoided the traffic by leaving earlier.

✅ Answers:

1. I could have joined the team, but I was too shy to try out.
2. You could have passed the test if you had studied a little more.
3. They could’ve avoided the traffic by leaving earlier.