It would appear that the -s form, treats, is indeed correct. The -s form of a verb is used when the subject of a sentence is third person singular. The plurality of the direct object affected by the verb has no meaning with regard to the verbs form.
It is just like--earlier in the sentence--present tense, third person subject, "POSIX," which has the verb, "requires," acting on the direct object, "the diff command." But actually we don't have just a simple direct object but a subordinate noun clause, "the diff command treats whitespace." It gets treated (no pun intended) just like a separate and complete sentence. Again, within the clause, we have a present tense, third person subject that is a singular noun, "the diff command," with--really this time--a direct object, "whitespace." So, the -s form of treat does indeed fit. BTW, the es doesn't make the verb plural. It's hard to say if using the infinitive "to" option would result in a clearer meaning. However, my opinion is that it would certainly be easier to read for someone with a native language other than English. It's also, grammatically, a little bit less complex. It also allows the removal of a stylistically verboten "that." :) ...POSIX requires the <command>diff</command> command to treat whitespace... Who knew one could write four paragraphs describing one lousy sentence. /me thinks ghovs would be proud. ~Jason -- -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-book FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
