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I wrote:

In the worst case, when the most patterns are defined using either “Parent” or “Common Ancestor” options, a sub-tree of the DOM-tree must be revisited after visiting some nodes, which are assumed to be all the nodes in the worst case.

I am talking about specific patterns and nodes. So, I thought maybe it should be:

In the worst case, when most of the patterns are defined using either “Parent” or “Common Ancestor” options, a sub-tree of the DOM-tree must be revisited after visiting some of the nodes, which are assumed to be all of the nodes in the worst case.

Are these two sentences equal? I think the second sentence is what I want because I am talking about specific nodes and patterns, but are there shorter ways to say the bold phrases without ".. of the .."?

Can "the most patterns" be equal to "most of the patterns"? I think no, since the "the" in the former indicates the top group of something general...

Besides, How can I avoid repeating "in the worst case" in the sentence above?

Can I shorten the last part to:

In the worst case, when most of the patterns are defined using either “Parent” or “Common Ancestor” options, a sub-tree of the DOM-tree must be revisited after visiting every node in the worst case.

I want to say the some nodes in the worst case are assumed to be all the nodes.

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  • "In the worst case" is not repeated in your examples, if it should be, please edit.
    – Peter
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 8:52
  • "After visiting some nodes, which are assumed to be the all nodes" does not make sense, should it be either "come of the nodes" or "all of the nodes"?
    – Peter
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 8:54
  • @Peter After visiting some nodes, which are assumed to be all of the nodes in the worst case, I mean in the worst case they are bounded to all of the nodes.
    – Ahmad
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 9:05
  • Do you mean "every node in the words case" or "every node in the worst case"?
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 11:36
  • You write "In the words case" in two places, did you mean "in the worst case"? If so, without additional context, the sentence is very confusing. A diagram would help greatly to understand what you are trying to say.
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 15:07

2 Answers 2

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Even though I'm still fuzzy on the details, as a technical person I can guess that the "worst case" requires having to parse the entire DOM multiple times?

Going on that assumption: "Most patterns" is not the same as "most of the patterns". In this context "most of the patterns" is better, since you mean "a large percentage of the patterns."

As for the rest, I would rephrase:

If most of the patterns are defined using either “Parent” or “Common Ancestor” options, a sub-tree of the DOM-tree must be revisited after visiting some of the nodes. In the worst case, this can mean revisiting a sub-tree after visiting all of the nodes (and so can be computationally intensive)

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  • Then you admit that "some of the nodes" and "all of the nodes" and "most of the patterns" are necessary because we are talking about specific items?
    – Ahmad
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 15:25
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    @Ahmad In this context, "after visiting some nodes" means the same thing as "after visiting some of the nodes". I like "some of the" better because it parallels with the other two expressions "most of the patterns" and "all of the nodes".
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 15:28
  • @Ahmad Still, I'm not certain "some of the nodes" means exactly what you want to say. Because it's a little confusing I might add even more detail to make it absolutely clear, something like "If most of the patterns are X it can be difficult to quickly parse the one you want. This means that, after visiting a node, you might have to revisit a sub-tree of the DOM. In the worst case you have to do this for every node (which can be bad because ...)."
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 15:30
  • Thanks I may should ask "some" part in another question.
    – Ahmad
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 16:50
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Personally, I think your third version is the best because it is the most succinct (as you requested).

And you're right. "The most" and "most" are two different things, so your first example would actually be wrong.

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