Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Seems pretty normal to me for dialogue. My pet hate is people who write "of" instead of the contraction "ve". E.g., "I should of done it", rather than "I should've done it". That's just plain ignorant.
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Yet there are people who talk that way. They mean "should've" but pronounce it "should-of". If it is in dialogue (or first person narrative) it would be appropriate if done to highlight the person's speech or background.
It is a tough choice fiction writers face because people don't speak by the book, grammatically correct. There's regionalisms, accents, personal foibles. And it can be an effective shorthand to give a character a distinct voice or tie them to their milieu or social stratum. It can be useful and it can be distracting. Writing good dialogue is a talent, not a rulebook skill.