have, of, and a

[Herbert Stahlke]

"Have" and "of" merge phonetically in constructions like "I would [@] gone"
and "two [@] those", leading to the common writing slip "I would of gone".
I found a variant of this phenomenon while reading Tom Clancy's _Red Rabbit_
on Fall Break.  (It occupied a cold, rainy day on Georgian Bay last week.)
On page 349, Clancy writes

"That would be a major complication, but not so vast of one as to be
impossible to arrange."

This is the first time I've seen "a" replaced by "of".  Usually it goes in
the other direction.

By the way, the book isn't worth the bother.  Clancy's slipped a bit from
his _Red October_ days.

Herb