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Copy edited. Added some context. Used the official name of Stack Overflow - see section "Proper Use of the Stack Exchange Name" in http://stackoverflow.com/legal/trademark-guidance (the last section).

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edit approved Jan 11, 2014 at 7:04

Peter Mortensen

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There is a situation where I have never worked out the correct thing to do. E.G. For example, here is a sentence I just used in a comment on StackOverflow.Stack Overflow:

The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this (or indeed most) cases.

If (or indeed most) were removed from the sentence, it should read..

The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this case.

However, if the bracketed part is left in, it just does not seem to 'read right' unless 'case' is plural, as in the first quoted text.

Is there a proper way to handle this?

If not. How, how could that first sentence be reworded/restructured/changed, restructured or changed, to remove the problem?

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asked Oct 18, 2013 at 15:51

Andrew Thompson

Use of plural form when applied to both singular and plural cases

There is a situation where I have never worked out the correct thing to do. E.G. here is a sentence I just used in a comment on StackOverflow.

The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this (or indeed most) cases.

If (or indeed most) were removed from the sentence, it should read..

The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this case.

However if the bracketed part is left in, it just does not seem to 'read right' unless 'case' is plural, as in the first quoted text.

Is there a proper way to handle this?

If not. How could that first sentence be reworded/restructured/changed, to remove the problem?