JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 150.135.239.97 on Mon, INNOVATIONS IN IDIOM SEEM to attract less attention than new words ornew uses of old words, but the American verb system has been developing some new variations besides those associated with Black English. One that seems to belong to this century is the encroachment of if he would have (or woulda) on if he had (or perhaps rather on if he'd'a and if he hadda). One would expect Mencken to have included it in The American Language (1936) or its supplements if it had been as common in the period of his study as it is now. Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989) says it "has been cited as an error in books on usage since at least 1924" (with a 1924 reference) but that "our evidence indicates that it does not occur in standard writing that finds its way into print" even today. Evans and Evans (1957) call the use of would have in conditional clauses "not standard" (558) and mention it in their entry on the subjunctive as something that one hears (486). It is now common in print, though only in quotations from oral sources-not informal, edited prose. The contemporary (1970-90) newpaper examples I have been collecting show a considerable geographical and social range. Here are examples quoted from a brain surgeon, two government officials, and a professor of English (emphasis mine): If we WOULD HAVE needed more time than that, we would have been running the risk of brain damage occurring. [Hartford (CT) Times, 23 May 1972, wire service from California] If the president WOULD HAVE asked me, I would have told him the same thing: Billy [Carter, the President's brother] should register [as a lobbyist].
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