I think duke is misinterpreting the common english suffixes. Words are often shortened with use of a comma ' . So 'would have' becomes 'would've'. The comma indicates an omission of letters. In this case 'ha' before 'have'. So what you have is two words connected into one, with the use of a comma. Would have becomes would've. And it would sound like you are saying the words 'would of'. Sit down, swallow, and digest those x and y's, lol.
No, my point was people writing an intended "would've" and then make the mishap of writing "would of" instead, are, as english first language speakers, either awesomely lazy or embarrassingly ignorant about their native speech.
I know full well what a suffix is and what a contraction is.
The thing that really peaks my interest is that you barge in here, only having read my first post with half an eye as it seems, have an attitude towards my general point I was trying to make and my knowledge of English grammar, and then manage to make a sublime error yourself.
A suffix is something like -ly. Kind => Kind-ly = suffix.
I am => I'm, would have => would've = contraction (yeah, the things women get while giving birth).
I mean, really man, I think you are a smart guy with a good heart, but for pete's sake you need to snap out of this all-knowing mentality. When people ask a question you don't try to answer it, you spend two alineas on explaining the definition of a question. No one cares. No one wants to hear a dictionary entry about every statement they make. They want an opinion, not an analysis of an unrelated incident, which you so readily manage to put forth.
And even then you could be justified in your responses if everything you said was spot on, but really, buddy, you're wrong at least half of the time.