Automattic / Automattic/harper

Should flag "suffered from defeat" when it should be "suffered defeat"

Open
#3,731 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement harper-core linting prepositions
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

I just read this in Wikipedia:

> This is all despite key battles, including the Battle of Milne Bay, where the Japanese **suffered from the first defeat** of a land battle at the hands of an Australian Brigade, and the Kokoda Campaign, where the Australians prevented the Japanese reaching Port Moresby, the capital of the Australian Territory of Papua, in late 1942.

I double checked with Google's AI, which put it this way:

> Use the exact phrase "**suffered defeat**" (or "suffered a defeat") when someone loses a game, battle, or competition. Do not include the preposition "from," as "**suffered from defeat**" is grammatically awkward and not a standard English idiom.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

The report names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by locating the grammar-rule definitions and existing tests for verb-preposition usage, then compare the reported sentence with the accepted “suffered defeat” and “suffered a defeat” forms. Done means the checker flags “suffered from defeat” without rejecting the valid alternatives.

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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