Ok – short post on a real pet
peeve of mine. The word “data” is
plural. See the following examples:
Incorrect:
Them data is cool!
Correct: Them
data are cool!
It’s a minor annoyance and,
coming from someone who can’t figure out when to use affect vs. effect, perhaps
you should just ignore me . . . but really – data are plural.
The word "data" is undoubtedly plural... in Latin.
I personally agree with you that it should certainly be plural also in English, however Merriam-Webster disagrees with the two of us.
http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=data
Posted by: Luca | February 26, 2005 at 01:13 AM
Normally this sort of thing annoys me as well, but this one does not bother me. Because any quantity of data can be treated as singular or plural, it is somewhat arbitrary to assign any quantity of data as a single datum. Consequently, in modern English data is both singular and plural.
Posted by: Dave Jilk | February 28, 2005 at 07:41 AM
Seth,
Here is a good book for your grammar affliction. We can help you. It'll be ok.
Peace out,
bill
Posted by: Bill Adkins | March 01, 2005 at 10:53 AM
for some reason the link didn't come through:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592400876/qid=1109699364/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2604481-2006516?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Posted by: Bill Adkins | March 01, 2005 at 10:54 AM
By the way, the last part of your last sentence is incorrect "data are plural".... it should read "'data' is plural"
Replace data with "dogs" you'll see what I mean - you wouldn't write "dogs are plural" - what you are really trying to say is "the word 'data' is plural".
:P
Posted by: Walker | August 11, 2005 at 02:25 PM
While on grammar, I think a few mentions from Networking 101 may not go amiss...
1. There is no such word as 'welcomed'; Just 'welcome' will suffice
2. The plural of 'Attorney' is Attorneys (yes, that, without the apostrophe)
3. Step 4 says 'when its awkward...', it should simply state 'when it is awkward...' or when it's awkward...'
The point is just so say that sometimes people make mistakes they do not intend to make. After all if every blogger was anal about proofing, most blogs would never get written.
Peace.
Posted by: S Y | July 28, 2006 at 10:29 AM
The word "data" is undoubtedly plural... in Latin. dead right
Posted by: deane | June 15, 2007 at 09:18 PM