had've or had of

[Thomas Tompion]

We have had a lot of threads about conditionals this week and I'm surprised that a common habit which troubles me has not been mentioned, and also that it doesn't seem to have been aired on the forums, as far as I can tell from the dictionary.

A lot of people in BE say 2nd conditional sentences as "If I had've gone, I would have seen her". I think they imagine they are saying "If I had have gone, I would have seen her". There must seem something missing to them in "If I had gone, I would have seen her".

I was amused to find an American academic railing against the expression, so I am clearly not alone, and this is not solely a BE phenomenon.

I wondered what members' experience has been of this form.

 

[Brioche]

I have heard similar expressions many times.

It is particularly common in very rapid speech "If I'd'a' gone, I would'a seen her"

 

[Thomas1]

Hi Thomas,

Indeed this is an intriguing question, here are some earlier threads that may be of interest:
... had have been able...
had(n't) have + past participle

Best whishes,
Tom

PS: it's the third conditional.

 

[Loob]

I have heard similar expressions many times.

It is particularly common in very rapid speech "If I'd'a' gone, I would'a seen her"

Mmm, I think that's right: it's an interpolated schwa which is rationalised to either "of" or "have".

I seem to recall that se16teddy has the theory that the interpolated schwa derived from the former prefix "a-": he had been a-hunting etc.

It seems plausible

 

[ewie]

I hear it a lot; I don't see it written down much; somewhat inevitably, it doesn't bother me much

 

[velisarius]

A similar thread here:
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/hadnt-of-said-that.2915324/#post-14738396