Automattic / Automattic/harper

False negative "there isn't going to be as many jokes throwing around here" not flagged

Open
#3,250 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug false-negative grammar linting
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

I'm not posting this is a new grammar error because I have no idea how to classify it and only heard it once.

But since it's obviously wrong, we should have general rules that just spot "bad grammar". Which has of course come up before.

> You know, there's there isn't going to be as many **jokes throwing around** here because I think this is a piece of cultural news

- Jokes are inanimate so can't usually be the subject of verbs.
- Jokes can be the object of verbs

Possible fixes:
- there isn't going to be as many jokes thrown around here
- there isn't going to be as many jokes being thrown around here
- there isn't going to be as many jokes getting thrown around here
- there isn't going to be as many jokes around here

Perhaps this is a logical generalization of the language change that went from "The company will release their new game" to "The company's new game will release". A change from a verb used passively to a verb used actively?

The speaker was a native English speaker living in Japan, with a "YouTube accent". I still can't tell if he's Australian or American.

----
Separately, we should really flag the "there's there isn't" as well.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the quoted “there isn't going to be as many jokes throwing around here” example and the separate “there's there isn't” sequence in Harper. Read the existing grammar rules and tests that cover passive constructions and duplicated words, if present. Done means the intended false negatives are flagged without incorrectly rejecting the acceptable alternatives.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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