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Is the contraction of the term "well have" to "well've" grammatically correct?

For example, can a sentence beginning "I may as well have . . . " be contracted to "I may as well've . . . "?

djhouston
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  • Relevant: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/312686/50044 – NVZ Mar 18 '16 at 09:36
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    "We'll've" perhaps, but definitely not "Well've"! – curiousdannii Mar 18 '16 at 10:35
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    There is not an "official" contraction for "wheel-uv". If you want to show it contracted (as you might for dialog) you will have to create your own representation. – Hot Licks Mar 20 '16 at 00:18
  • (But for "well have" as in "may as well have" (vs "we will have"), "well've" is a perfectly reasonable contraction.) – Hot Licks Mar 20 '16 at 01:47
  • Ok, so my poetic line, "but nine years my junior, sis may as well've been a zillion." is good to go grammatically then. Right? Thank you for commenting☺ – djhouston Mar 21 '16 at 07:15
  • @djhouston it all depends on what you mean by grammatical: many may say it naturally that way, but your teachers and newspaper editors will mark it as an error. Don't write it unless you're being informal or writing informal speech. It's not accepted -spelling- for writing. – Mitch Mar 21 '16 at 12:26
  • I'll've commented on this post. I'd've posted an answer, but I'dn't have gotten any votes because to many contractions make what I'm saying nearly indecipherable. – aslum Apr 19 '16 at 16:58

2 Answers2

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One may speak like that but it is not an accepted orthographical convention.

There are instances of people using it but it is very informal, essentially just transcription of informal speech.

Mitch
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  • Hot Licks gave the following response:(But for "well have" as in "may as well have" (vs "we will have"), "well've" is a perfectly reasonable contraction.) This answer suits my purpose☺Thanks for taking the time to comment. – djhouston Mar 21 '16 at 07:22
  • Thanks again everyone for taking the time to give me your thoughtful comments☺ – djhouston Apr 26 '16 at 02:48
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Contractions after adverb such as "well" are not grammatically usual. However, contractions before "will" are acceptable. Example: I will've completed the task is a contraction for "I will have completed the task.

Mohamed Rachidi
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  • Hot Licks gave the following response:(But for "well have" as in "may as well have" (vs "we will have"), "well've" is a perfectly reasonable contraction.) This answer suits my purpose☺Thanks for taking the time to comment. – djhouston Mar 21 '16 at 07:21