I'd say many bad English examples
stem from bad enunciation. For example, the there/their/they're problem; looking up these three words to see the pronounciation shows that in the international phonetic alphabet, (a series of symbols for describing every sound the human mouth can make), "their" and "there" are pronounced the same yet "they're" is slightly different.

They're = ðeɪə
Their/there = ðɛə

"Should/would/could of" is people not saying "could've" correctly. It appears more and more too, which is alarming. Do teachers no longer correct bad spoken English anymore?
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 0:45, 11 replies)

To clarify
Are you saying you're actually detecting a difference between "should of" and "should've" in SPEECH?

It's the same damn sound!
(Legion, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 1:22, closed)

"Of" is not supposed to be pronounced as "uv". Two completely different sounds.
(Freakmandu, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 2:06, closed)

Not in North America it's not. I'd really like to hear how else one is meant to say it.
(Legion, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 20:37, closed)

How does the international phonetic alphabet describe the slurping sound a mouth makes when it receives a great wad of semen?

Also, your final sentence needs reworking. I hope it was deliberate.

6/10.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 1:34, closed)

honestly
Every sound.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 2:25, closed)

You mean
would / could / should HAVE.
(barbedwiretumbleweed Fast 'n' Bulbous!, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 10:37, closed)

No.
He doesn't.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 11:24, closed)

Bollocks.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 12:04, closed)

Do teachers no longer correct bad spoken English anymore?
Correct it? Most of the dozy buggers bloody revel in using it!
(The Jannie, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 12:12, closed)

I'm an English teacher (English as a Foreign Language)
so I have to use the IPA all the time. In connected speech, as in sentence level, uninterrupted speech, '[should] have' and '[should] of' do sound exactly the same (/əv/) . The only time we hear the pronunciation /hæv/ is when we are using the word in isolation as a standard verb - not when it's an auxiliary. MAYBE it's used to denote stress of that part of the phrase in a conditional. I don't think this is likely though, we're more likely to stress 'He SHOULD have come', 'HE should have come' or 'He should have COME' than 'He should HAVE come'. This is because as 'have' has a grammatical rather than standard verb function here we don't have reason to stress it.

All the textbooks I use explicitly teach students TO pronounce 'have' in perfect tenses in the way you say is 'incorrect' (/əv/). Frankly, it isn't incorrect. It's how we use the language, I'm afraid.

/end grammar rant
(Turn that bloody gramaphone down has incorrect spelling in her username *WINS*, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 18:18, closed)

Oh yeah...
and 'their' and 'there' (and I would say 'they're', too) are pronounced /ðeə/ in RP. I wouldn't try to use the IPA unless you actually know how to use it properly...
(Turn that bloody gramaphone down has incorrect spelling in her username *WINS*, Sun 3 Apr 2011, 19:18, closed)