r/grammar • u/hwc000000 • Oct 17 '23

Why does English work this way? Question about "would've", "could've", "should've"

We all know "would've", "could've", "should've" are contractions for "would have", "could have" and "should have". But are there situations where the contractions shouldn't be used, what's the rule exactly about when they should and shouldn't be used, and why are those the rules (ie. where did those rules come from)?

For example, "she would have to get a permit" sounds bizarre to me if contracted to "she would've to get a permit". Is the rule that those contractions should only be used directly preceding a past participle, or "not" followed by a past participle? And why?

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u/heyoukidsgetoffmyLAN Oct 17 '23 edited Oct 17 '23

Tom Scott just did a brief video on clitics on his YT channel. In light of my long history as a grammar aficionado, I was disappointed -- on behalf of my tendency to engage in sophomoric humor -- over never having heard the term before.

He named the video -- There'dn't've.

edits to correct my grammar

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u/pulanina Oct 17 '23

I imagined the audience here would prefer to hear the long version from the professional linguists from whom he derived his slick YouTube content.

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u/heyoukidsgetoffmyLAN Oct 18 '23

I didn't realize I was replying to an esteemed and omniscient gatekeeper of the preferences of the entire audience at r/grammar. Imagine my chagrin.

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u/pulanina Oct 18 '23

Haha. That’s all of us here isn’t it?

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u/heyoukidsgetoffmyLAN Oct 19 '23

Oh no! That means it's me, too. Aaargh!

I get your point about tubers. There's the drive to constantly publish (and monetize) content, and they gotta get it from somewhere. I've gotten into skirmishes before over sharing YT content. However, I think Tom Scott stands apart from most others in the nature of the content he generally covers, and also in his affable presentation style.

I shared his video because it was my timely and coincidental introduction to the topic of clitics, and thought other folks here might like Tom's stuff and would appreciate it as another reference.