Re: Debian 5 -- "data" is plural.
On Tue, 20 May 2014 14:49:02 -0400
Ken Heard <kenslists@teksavvy.com> wrote:
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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
>
>
No it doesn't.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/data?q=data
"In modern non-scientific use, however, it is generally not treated as
a plural. Instead, it is treated as a mass noun, similar to a word like
information, which takes a singular verb."
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