How to deal with unknown plurality
I have just seen the following sentence fragment in some new internal technical documentation:
... thereby meaning the Logging thread(s) ha(s/ve) less work to do.
I've highlighted the part this question is about. This pattern appears a number of times in the documentation. While from a technical standpoint it makes sense as it enumerates all the possible permutations, it seems less readable to me.
The target audience is technical but don't all have English as a first language so I would like to make it as easy to read/skim through as possible.
What is the best way to deal with this situation? Always use the plural form? The singular? Something else?
A little clarification based on some of the answers/comments so far: the application in question is multi-threaded and the degree of parallelism is configurable (so one to n). Also Logging was given only as an example. There are other parts that are equally capable of being parallelised, so answers shouldn't focus on the feasibility of multiple logging threads.
Solution 1:
Use the plural.
If you think it is important to point out that there may be only one because that is the most likely case, then say "...the logging thread or threads are...". However, consider simplifying to just "... the logging threads are..." even here.
If you think it is important to point out that there may be only one because the behaviour you are documenting is different in that case, then make that a separate statement:
... the logging threads are .... In the case where there is only a single logging thread ...
In technical contexts, it can be very useful to be precise as to "One or more threads are ..." or "Zero or more threads are...". The phrase "zero or more" is unusual English in most contexts, but well worth be precise about in technical writing. With both "one or more" and "zero or more" you then treat the subject as plural. Plurality can contain the possibility of singularity in cases like this.
Solution 2:
I think you should use what you mean, which in this case depends on the number of the Logging thread(s) you have.
If, in your application, you have only one single Logging thread (which is likely, as a typical computer program should have only a single thread for the logging purpose), you should use the singular form.
On the other hand, if your application has multiple threads for the logging purpose (which is less likely, IMHO), you should use the plural form.
But if the number of the Logging thread(s) cannot possibly be determined in advance, use what @JanusBahsJacquet suggests, add (s) after the noun. To me, this style is quite common. The way I see it, most technical writers seem to avoid a verb in present tense after these with-(s) nouns. Thus, a phrase such as the Logging thread(s) will ..., or the Logging thread(s) will be [verb-ed] ..., or even rephrasing the phrase entirely, is quite common. When it is really unavoidable, some seem to use, for example, there is/are N Logging thread(s) in this process, where N ..., while others seem to use the verb as if the with-(s) nouns were plural, e.g. the Logging thread(s) run before other threads.
EDIT I just found this in Microsoft Manual of Style, 4th Edition. It is clear that, with international considerations, the recommendation is to use plural forms, as Jon Hanna has posted above.
International considerations
Do not add (s) to a word to indicate that it can be construed as either singular or plural unless you have no other choice. Such words may be difficult to translate because not all languages form plurals by adding a suffix to the root word. If a placeholder modifier can result at different times in a singular or a plural noun, use the plural form. A word to which (s) is added may also lead to mistranslation in machine-translated content.