SudokuSolver Forum

To all the native English speaking people here I have an English grammar question.

Is the following sentence correct?    "This is the default solvers sequence."
Or is this sentence the correct one?  "This is the default solvers' sequence."

Personally I would not use a genitive apostrophe after "solvers".
This since my grammar analysis of the sentence does no find a genitive relation.

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Depends what you mean, but if you are describing the default sequence of a (single) solver, I would suggest the correct form is actually:

This is the solver's default sequence

If you are describing the sequence of a (single) default solver, then the correct form would be

This is the default solver's sequence

Putting an apostrophe after solvers indicates the possessive of the plural.

Rgds
Richard

I mean the possesive of the plural as in

This is the default sequence of the solvers in SudokuSolver.
or
This is the solvers' default sequence in SudokuSolver.

Børge


EDIT:
I think I now understand what is wrong with both sentences in my first post. I misplaced the word default, causing my original confusion.

I never studied grammar at school and have always relied on what sounds right. But now that I'm an English language teacher, I'm meant to know all these things! Still learning every day. So, I really admire all you non-native-guys here for your wonderful English. I (almost) never have trouble understanding you (and that is less often than others have trouble understanding me!). I don't think "solver" should be used as a plural here. I tend to think of "solver" as a whole - a person or the software package or the whole set of routines used to solve a sudoku.

So, I would say, "This is the default sequence of the solver in SS." Or, "This is the solver's default sequence in SS." Here, "solver" is singular and this dictates where the possessive ' goes.

What you call "solvers", I would call routines or techniques.

BTW - how do I put the / through the "o" in Borge? Also (being a typical mono-lingual Aussie), what is the pronunciation of that "o"?

edit: BTW2 - what is the "Borge's Corner" solver sequence for SS (edit: maybe that should be solver's sequence)? Knowing this could influence the "scoring" routine order (or should that be "routines' order"? ) for a future release of SS. I played around a little bit with scoring your puzzles to try and get some correlation with your difficulty levels. But, am waiting for Richard to (one day!) format the "batch solve" to handle all your puzzle types before exploring this properly.

Cheers
Ed

I'm not a native English speaking person but I guess "This is the default sequence of the selected solvers" etc sounds better to me. I would normally avoid using the apostrophe for formal statements.

I guess the usage of "solvers" to replace "techniques" is from JSudoku?


This link should provide answers for you.


PS: I would have liked to achieve my Master rank with a more creative post, but it doesn't matter now.

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ADYFNC HJPLI BVSM GgK Oa m

Interesting reason udusuk. I don't think of a possessive apostrophe as informal but agree if the apostrophe is for a contraction it does sound more informal. Hope y'all know what I'm on about .Thanks Master . I had been saying it wrong and can now type (hold)ALT then 0216 on the keypad to get BØrge. Just got to make it smaller now!

Cheers
Ed

I agree. In my mind, a single technique or routine does not "solve" a puzzle - the application of a number of techniques in a particular sequence leads to a solution. I think of the application program as the solver, which has a number of routines at its disposal.

So to describe the default order in which the routines are applied, I would stick with:
This is SudokuSolver's default sequence [of routines]
or
This is SudokuSolver's default routine sequence
or (least attractive, IMHO)
This is SudokuSolver's routines' default sequence

Isn't English a wonderful language?

I hear tell of some vigilante grammarians who always carry with them a marker pen and Tippex. They correct any signs they see in public with mis-placed or missing punctuation - the main culprits being apostrophes and commas (or apostrophe's and comma's )

Do I understand correctly that its pronunciation is the same as German ö?

Richard, Ed, Matt and enxio27,
thanks a lot for your insightful comments. Very much appreciated.

@Ed & Matt, sometime next week I will answer all your questions and some of your comments.

On most Latin alphabet based keyboards the lower case ø can be constructed using:
1) Left-Alt + 155
2) Left-Alt + 0248

The uppercase Ø can be constructed using:
1) Left-Alt + 157
2) Left-Alt + 0216

If you just want to write "Børge", an easy way is to mark, copy and past the Børge listed on the left side of all my postings

The pronunciation of ø in Norwegian is close to the pronunciation of the "i" in "Sir". The Norwegian ø is pronounced slightly lighter than the German ö, i.e. my first name is pronounced differently in German and Norwegian, and again differently in Danish.

In fact my complete name "Børge Alexander Tetlie Anderssen" is, exept for "Tetlie", pronounced differently in German, Norwegian, and Danish. Tetlie is pronounced virtually identical in all three languages. "Børge" and "Alexander" are my two given names, "Tetlie" is my middle name (or first surname, if you want), and "Anderssen" is my (second) "Surname".

My "double" surname is not constructed from my mother's maiden surname and my father's surname. Both come from my deceased Norwegian father "Andreas Tetlie Anderssen". "Tetlie" was his mother's maiden surname and "Anderssen" was his father's surname. When I was born in 1957, it was according to Norwegian law not legal to inherit both a middle name and a surname from your father, but since I was born in Denmark by a Danish citizen, and baptized in Denmark the Norwegian authorities allowed my parents to apply for an exception from the regulations, and 7 years later the Ministry of the Interior informed my parents that their application was approved. I still have that letter.

Due to changes in Norwegian laws some years ago, the Norwegian authorities changed my middle name Tetlie to a surname, but with that letter from 1964 in my hand, which explicitly states that "Tetlie" is my middle name, they had to revoke that.

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Normal: [D  Y-m-d,  G:i]     PM->email: [D, d M Y H:i:s]

The Grand Master has already given you the info, but if you had been more observant:


Børge, thanks for sharing your fascinating story with us! Am I right in pronouncing your (first) first name like "Birge" or "Burge" in English?

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ADYFNC HJPLI BVSM GgK Oa m