Automattic / Automattic/harper

Explore marking verbs for transitivity in the dictionary

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dictionary enhancement grammar
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

**Intransitive verbs** stand alone without an object (e.g., "She **slept**"), **transitive verbs** require a direct object (e.g., "She **wrote** a book"), and **ditransitive verbs** require both a direct and an indirect object (e.g., "She **gave** him a book").

These classifications are not mutually exclusive because many verbs are **ambitransitive**, meaning they can shift between transitive and intransitive roles depending on the context (e.g., "I **eat**" vs. "I **eat** apples"). There are also verbs which may have some ditransitive senses or uses and some transitive or intransitive.

Having these verb properties indicated in the dictionary should enable flagging various kinds of grammar mistakes that are currently not handled and either difficult or impossible to handle.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by locating the dictionary data and its verb-property representation, then define the scope and validation for transitive, intransitive, ditransitive, and ambitransitive markings; the work is done when the intended verb properties are represented well enough to support the grammar checks described.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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