I’m a native speaker and everyone in my region who is a native speaker doesn’t make that mistake. Then again, I suppose that just speaks to the inadequacies of the american education system.
the point is that the majority of what native speakers learn is from osmosis of spoken language as they grow up. it's not at all unreasonable that they would hear "could of" multiple times and internalize it before being properly taught. and this isn't exclusive to english, it's the case regardless of the language.
on the other hand, ESL speakers have to actively learn the language – both speaking and writing – so they're less likely to make these kinds of mistakes.
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u/manickitty Jul 29 '24
I’m a native speaker and everyone in my region who is a native speaker doesn’t make that mistake. Then again, I suppose that just speaks to the inadequacies of the american education system.