english grammar and patches

[valdis.kletnieks at vt.edu]

On Wed, 26 Apr 2017 10:27:00 +1000, "Tobin C. Harding" said:
> This question relates to English grammar and correct usage when
> writing gitlog messages and patch series cover letters.
>
> The writing of gitlog messages is covered in submitting-patches.rst,
> of note is the mood to use. It is not stated but I think it is
> a subjunctive description of the problem being addressed followed by
> an imperative description of what is being done in the patch. Please
> correct me if I am wrong.
>
> The question is: what mood to use in the cover letter.

Please note that most kernel hackers wouldn't recognize a subjunctive mood
if it bit them on the ass.  In addition, we have a large number of people
writing code for whom English is a second, or third, or even not well learned
fourth language.

And I'm not even convinced that even if they were able to recognize it,
that it would be the correct mood to use.

http://www.dummies.com/education/language-arts/grammar/using-the-subjunctive-mood-in-english/

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