Is it "could of been" or "could have been?"

[dancer]

Is it "could of been" or "could have been?" If I use either one consistently, does it matter which one I choose?

Is it ten-thousand-square-feet? Are there hyphens throughout?

Is it rabies shots or rabies' shots?

Thank you for your help.

[Maeve]

The response to this query is to be found in the section Misused Words, "Common Errors in English."

I'll put it here as well:

Originally Posted by dancer
Is it ten-thousand-square-feet?

Is it correct to say could have been or could of been? If one is used consistently, does it matter which one it is?

Is it rabies shots or rabies' shots?

Thank you for your help.

10,000 square feet (or ten thousand square feet)

could have been YES it matters!

rabies shots

[Silke]

It's "Could have been".

Could of been is one of my all time pet peeves. It makes me spit nails when I see someone use it lol.
*spits a nail*

You can also use Could've been, but urgh, I think it looks horrible.

Rabies shots, not rabies' shots. Rabies is always singular. The distinction is on shot / shots. That's where the plural is determined, not on the rabies part.

The ten thousand feet square I am not sure about. :) But I think without hyphens.

[Alice]

It's could have been. I assume when people write "could of been" they mean "could've been". That's all the sense I can make of it, anyway. :confused:

As for the second, I've never seen it written with hyphens. Sometimes I see a hyphen between ten and thousand, though.

And I'm pretty sure the third one is "rabies shot".