grammar-fundamentals

Grammar Fundamentals

Core grammar rules covering the categories where non-native developers most often slip. Every rule below is drawn from the legacy writing-guide; no new rules are invented here.

Articles (a / an / the / zero)

Wrong	Right	Rule
"Fix bug in authentication"	"Fix the bug in authentication"	Specific, identifiable noun = use the
"Create a new the file"	"Create a new file"	Already have a = drop the
"I use the React"	"I use React"	Framework / tool names take no article

Quick check:

• If the reader can point to a specific item already in context, use the.
• If the noun is one of many or first-mentioned, use a / an.
• Proper nouns (React, TypeScript, Linux) take no article.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Wrong	Right	Rule
"There is many issues"	"There are many issues"	Plural subject → plural verb
"The data show"	"The data shows"	data is singular in modern tech usage
"None of the tests pass"	"None of the tests passes"	None = singular in formal writing

Notes:

• Collective nouns (team, staff, data) are treated as singular in American technical writing.
• everyone / someone / nobody take singular verbs.

Its vs It's

Form	Meaning	Example
it's	it is / it has	"It's broken" = "It is broken"
its	possessive (belonging to it)	"The module and its tests"

Test: replace with "it is". If the sentence still works, the apostrophe belongs.

Who vs That vs Which

Use	For	Example
who	People	"The developer who wrote this"
that	Things, restrictive clause	"The function that handles auth"
which	Things, non-restrictive clause	"The module, which was added last week, has a bug"

Restrictive clause = essential to identify the noun, no commas, use that. Non-restrictive clause = extra info, set off with commas, use which.

Prepositions

Wrong	Right
"depend of"	"depend on"
"consist in"	"consist of"
"different of"	"different from"
"search a solution"	"search for a solution"

Prepositions are memorised per verb; there is no general rule.

Tense Consistency

Stay in one tense inside a single paragraph unless you are explicitly comparing before-and-after states.

Bad	Good
"The hook reads stdin and wrote the log."	"The hook reads stdin and writes the log."
"We will add caching and we stored it in Redis."	"We will add caching and store it in Redis."

Common idiomatic tenses by context:

Context	Dominant tense
Commit message subject	Imperative ("Fix X")
PR description body	Present ("This change adds…")
API documentation	Present ("Returns a user object")
Changelog entry	Past or imperative ("Added Y")
Design document	Present or future ("The service will…")

Countable vs Mass Nouns

Mass (no plural, no a)	Countable (pluralize, use a)
information, advice, feedback, progress	a file, two files, an error, errors
software, hardware, equipment	a module, modules
research, work	a task, tasks

Common slip: "an information" → "a piece of information" or "some information".

Comparatives and Superlatives

Wrong	Right
"more faster"	"faster"
"the most simplest"	"the simplest"
"more better"	"better"

Rules:

• One-syllable adjectives: add -er / -est (fast → faster → fastest).
• Two or more syllables: use more / most (useful → more useful → most useful).
• Never stack both (more faster, most simplest are always wrong).

Scope

This skill covers grammar mechanics only. Related concerns live in sibling skills:

• punctuation-rules — commas, semicolons, hyphens, apostrophes, quotation marks
• tone-calibration — imperative vs indicative, formality per context
• technical-writing — passive/active voice in docs, terminology consistency
• common-non-native-mistakes — recurring error patterns and anti-patterns
• writing-guide — meta-skill that routes consumers to the four above