Re: [PATCH] Documentation: management-style: Correct "know" past participle

[Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 10:47:28PM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> > Management style docs writes on people under a manager, where they know
> > the details better than the manager himself, in past perfect tense. Yet,
> > "know" is in infinitive form instead.
> >
> > Correct the verb form.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>
> > ---
> >  Documentation/process/management-style.rst | 4 ++--
> >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/Documentation/process/management-style.rst b/Documentation/process/management-style.rst
> > index dfbc69bf49d435..1381b253b19ef4 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/process/management-style.rst
> > +++ b/Documentation/process/management-style.rst
> > @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ actually true.
> >  The name of the game is to **avoid** having to make a decision.  In
> >  particular, if somebody tells you "choose (a) or (b), we really need you
> >  to decide on this", you're in trouble as a manager.  The people you
> > -manage had better know the details better than you, so if they come to
> > +manage had better known the details than you, so if they come to
> >  you for a technical decision, you're screwed.  You're clearly not
> 
> This seems actively wrong ... ?

I do believe this is a clear indicator that the whole sentence needs to be
reworded:

    ... if somebody tells you to "choose (a) or (b), we really need you to
    decide on this," you're in trouble as a manager. The people you manage
    most likely know the details better than you, so if they come to you for
    a technical decision, ...

This change would detract from the... unique... style of this document, but
would hopefully be less confusing to non-native speakers.

-K