“I’d of thought of that sooner or later.” Huh? I know people say this all the time, but I’ve seen it in print too, and it’s just wrong. The sentence should read: “I’d have thought of that sooner or later.”
Soemtimes when I’ve seen it in print, it’s in a quote from a fictional character, and that just helps to reveal who the character is. However, I’ve seen it with no quotes around it; it’s what the writer meant, and the copy editor didn’t catch, and, oh boy!
Once again, I think our lazy tongues are the culprits. We’re actually saying (get ready for this) “I’d’ve.” Then, the “ve” part slides around inside our mouths until it comes out “of.”
Then, when we get to writing it, we write what we say or what we think we say. And there it is in big, black type–of. Yikes!
Please don’t write “of” instead of “have.” OK?
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