I wrote:
The user even can specify multiple labels and variables, and store the content of each of them under a separate XML node.
Suppose a user can enter a command like:
Label1 = Variable1; Label2 = Variable2; ....
First, I want to know for such usage, several is better or multiple? What is the difference?
Second, should I say Multiple Labels and Variables, or Multiple Label and Variables, or Multiple Label and Variable Pairs?
Third, should I say The user even can specify or The user can even specify?
I know adverbs are usually placed after auxiliary verbs and before the main verb, and some can be placed in other places. But how much that is serious? Do you always prefer to hear an adverb between the auxiliary and main verb?
Best Answer
The two are nearly synonymous, but in technical / numerical contexts multiple is definitely preferred, whereas several is usually used for descriptive contexts like "the user had included several labels", and implies a smallish number (between 3 and ~20). So in your example, multiple is correct. Definitely a stylistic choice though, linguistically and grammatically they are both correct.
"Multiple Label and Variables" is incorrect - it should be "Multiple labels and variables". "Multiple Label and Variable Pairs" is also correct but now you are referring to the pairs not the collection of individual things. In your context you definitely mean "Multiple Label and Variable Pairs", but often authors might simply write "Multiple Labels and Variables", or even "Multiple variables", as a shorthand.
You probably want: "The user can even specify", the "can even" here implies the of all the things the user can do, this is the one you wish to emphasise. If you wrote "The user even can specify" then the "user even" implies that of all the actors that can specify, you wish to emphasise the user - probably not what you meant! (Worth noting that normal technical prose would shy away from using "even" at all here, I'd say - "The user can specify" is sufficient - depending on context).