Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda And Other Incorrectly Written Words - The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

Sometimes, when we transcribe what someone says, we may write what we HEAR, not what is correct. Such is the case with “coulda,” “shoulda” and “woulda,” or “could of,” “should of” and “would of.” These often end up on paper when a transcriber is not grammar savvy or does not understand that the speaker is saying could have, should have, or would have.  (In their contraction form, they are could’ve, should’ve and would’ve.)

“Coulda,” “shoulda” and “woulda” are not words at all.  If you don’t believe me, type them into a Word document on your computer, and you will see your spell verifier go crazy putting red squiggly lines under them, indicating a misspelling!

The spell verifier will not be so picky if you typed “could of,” “should of” or “would of,” but that does not make them correct!  The word “of” is a preposition, meaning “belonging to, relating to or connected with.”  It has no place in the midst of a sentence such as this:  I could have gone to the party, but I decided to stay home and straighten my sock drawer.  “Could have gone” is a verb phrase.  If you replace “have” with “of,” you’ve broken the chain of verbs and come up with something that makes absolutely no sense.

Two other words that are often written incorrectly are “affect” and “effect.” Sometimes, this is because a speaker simply misuses them, but sometimes it is because they sound very much alike and can often be incorrectly transcribed.

Affect is a verb, meaning “to have an effect on, to make a difference to.” (Example: How much you study will affect how well you do on the test.)

Effect is a noun, meaning “the result of an action.” (Example: John’s refusal to study had an effect on his grade.)

When transcribing a sentence, it is important to know the definition of “affect” and “effect” and what part of speech they are.  Also, pay attention to the context of the sentence in which they are used, so that you will use the correct one in your transcript.