The form that a verb takes tells a reader how to regard the sentence, known as mood. Three major moods appear in standard English writing: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.
Use indicative or imperative mood
The indicative mood states facts. The imperative mood expresses commands or requests. Use these two moods when writing Splunk docs.
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- Correct
- You can send data to the indexer by using a forwarder.
- Send data to the indexer by using a forwarder.
- The forwarder sends data to the indexer.
Avoid subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood expresses doubt and causes confusion over whether you’re making a recommendation or stating a requirement. Splunk software either does or doesn’t do something, so write clearly and avoid the following subjunctive mood verbs:
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should
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would
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could
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- Correct
- For security reasons, give only administrators access to this instance.
- The example shows a type of script you can create for your deployment.
- Start by setting up a new stanza in
transforms.conf.
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- Incorrect
- For security reasons, only administrators should have access to this instance.
- The example shows a type of script you would create for your deployment.
- You could start by setting up a new stanza in
transforms.conf.