Using The Dreaded Of for Have:

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Away from my desk and all things computer. So, keeping things going with scheduled blogs on the language we use as writers. Please forgive me if I don’t reply to any comments for the time being, but I’m having a very well-earned rest from work. Be back in person in the second week of October.

Using The Dreaded Of for Have:

You all know this one. It’s a result of people writing the way they speak. So, someone says, ‘I would’ve done it differently if only I’d’ve known better.’  And then they write this as, ‘I would of done it differently if only I’d of known better.’ Even the much lauded F Scott Fitzgerald used this in dialogue in The Great Gatsby; I cringed every time I saw it.

Please, use ‘have’ or its contracted form, “’ve” and not ‘of’, which is not a verb but a preposition connecting words.

End of minor rant.