Re: Debian 5 -- "data" is plural.
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On 2014-05-20 12:16, Filip wrote:
> On Tue, 20 May 2014 17:03:16 +0100 Lisi Reisz
> <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> (Sorry, Ken. re-sending correctly to list.)
>>
>> On Tuesday 20 May 2014 16:00:42 Ken Heard wrote:
>>> Please note everybody that the word "data" is plural. The
>>> beginning of the last line quoted above should consequently
>>> read "all the scientific data *are* backed up." Other posts in
>>> this thread make the same error. The singular of data is
>>> datum.
>>
>> This is of course, grammatically correct. But I would argue
>> that, although in formal writing it should certainly be treated
>> as a plural, in colloquial speech it no longer is. I would also
>> argue that emails are colloquial speech not formal writing.
>>
>> This does not apply in the same way to all of your "group".
>> Where it is needful to have both a singular and a plural, as in
>> bacterium/bacteria and criterion/criteria it would be perverse
>> to make a plural by putting an s on the plural! (Though some
>> people do.)
>>
>> Language changes, whether one wishes it or not. We no longer
>> speak the English of Shakespeare or the King James' Bible. I
>> still sometimes catch myself using the present subjunctive in
>> speech. I do not think that I am correct to do so. For this
>> usage it is dead. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, the
>> imperfect subjunctive is dead.
>>
>> Lisi
>>
>>
>
> The dictionary agrees with you.
>
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data
>
> "Both constructions are standard. The plural construction is more
> common in print, evidently because the house style of several
> publishers mandates it."
The Oxford English Dictionary however agrees with me.
Regards, Ken
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