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I have trouble understand this sentence:

The kernel maintains a data structure called a page table, that contains a mapping of
a processes' virtual page addresses to real page addresses in memory.

Why it's in plural while there is a 'a' proceeding it? It sounds like it is saying "some arbitrary group of", am I correct?

The book is How Linux Works by Brian Ward, 2nd, page 182, line 4.

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You are correct. The sentence should read:

The kernel maintains a data structure called a page table that contains a mapping of a process's virtual page addresses to real page addresses in memory.

(Note that there should not be a comma before a relative clause using "that".)

The sentence could also be written with plural nouns as:

The kernel maintains a data structure called a page table that contains mappings of processes' virtual page addresses to real page addresses in memory.

The rules surrounding apostrophes with plural possessive nouns and with singular nouns that end with 's' can be tricky even for native speakers. This sentence deals with both cases depending on whether the noun is singular or plural.

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  • Wow, my teacher always said 'that' should not follows a comma, but I've seen it everywhere, in books/internet...
    – Kindred
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 19:48
  • @user7813604 Lots of people do not know the rules or care to follow them. Others don't even agree on what the rules are. :)
    – Tashus
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 19:50
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    @user7813604 A comma shouldn't precede a restrictive clause, but it's hardly the case that all instances of "that" introduce a restrictive clause.
    – Acccumulation
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 21:35
  • As Lynne Murphy explains in Chapter 8 of The Prodigal Tongue, "That can't go with non-restrictive relative clauses, so [the grammar mavens] reason, which shouldn't go with restrictive ones". Though this "rule" was made up by Henry Fowler in the UK, it never caught on here; but in the US, grammarians enthusiastically adopted this bogus, invented rule of grammar, and have kept teaching it. So British writers unapologetically put that after a comma if they choose, but American writers don't, or do so nervously.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 22:13

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