Automattic / Automattic/harper

false positive for phrase `that may be`

Open
#1,553 4 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug good first issue harper-core linting
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

## Description

Harper generates a false positive for the phrase "that may be", for example, "other people that may be interested".

Harper gives a green underline suggesting replacing "may be" with "maybe", which is not correct.

This does not happen in other contexts, for example just writing, "they may be interested", does not flag anything.

## Resources

[Cambridge Dictionary – Maybe vs May Be](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/maybe-or-may-be)

## Screenshots

Image

Image

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the false positive for “other people that may be interested” and compare it with the unflagged “they may be interested” example. Locate the rule producing the green underline, then verify that the first phrase is no longer flagged while the valid “may be” context remains unaffected.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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