Language & Grammar II: Articles

Using articles is always preferred in your documentation piece as it allows the readers to concisely follow your documentation. The articles are used to modify the nouns. Indefinite articles specify the non-specific or non-particular nouns, while definite articles specify the specific nouns.

While using articles we have a set of guidelines that you can follow:

• Use a before abbreviation, word, or number that begins with a consonant.

• Use before an abbreviation, word, or number that begins with a vowel.

• Carefully use articles with abbreviations as they might pronounce different when spelt out.

• Use articles to increase clarity and give a better context.

• Use articles to distinguish between the same nouns.

For example, File could not be found is wrong. To increase clarity, we can use The file could not be found. Similarly, Empirical Forest Growth module is standard module used in FLINT can be refactored to The Empirical Forest Growth module is a standard module used in FLINT.

Recommended examples	Not recommended examples
The code needs to be fixed.	Code needs to be fixed.
A one liner code snippet would help.	One liner code snippet would help
We need an NPM package here (NPM is the abbreviation for Node Package Manager)	We need a NPM package here (NPM is the abbreviation for Node Package Manager)
The file with the error could not be found.	File with the error could not be found.
A specific package, the package that was used in this project	The specific package, the package that was used in this project