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“The word data is a queer fish,” Webster’s Dictionary of Usage points out. Data can be singular or plural; usage depends on context. Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum. Datum is rarely used these days, though, and data is often used as a collective noun referring to information, statistics, and the like: “The data show.” In scientific contexts, the plural prevails: “These data are.”
Our style at the Geographic is to treat data as a plural when we are referring to a body of facts, figures, and such. We’ve had a couple of slips in recent issues, as eagle-eyed readers have pointed out to us in emails. In the April “Budding Pursuit” Departments article, we were inconsistent: “Such data are” (correct plural usage), and “Phenological data goes back” (incorrect singular). In the May article on cloning—the companion piece to the cover story on mammoths—we used data as a singular noun: “to express this data” and “Transforming this data…” (“Those data” is correct.)
Why the confusion? Perhaps it stems from the word data, which, unlike many plural nouns, doesn’t end with an s. The difference between fact and facts is clear; the difference between data (singular) and data (plural) is more subtle. In order to avoid the confusion, some might be inclined to always use data as a plural. Since both singular and plural forms are considered standard usage, however, I’d rather not box writers into a singular form.
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Comments
May 11, 2009 11AM #
I always thought the singular of data was datum.
May 11, 2009 11AM #
I always thought collective nouns used singular verbs in American English. For example: The team is, the police is, the group is
This, I thought, was different from British English that uses plural verbs with collective nouns. For example: The police are....
May 11, 2009 11AM #
Thanks for creating this. I really feel as though I know so much more about the topic than I did before. You should continue this, Im sure most people would agree youve got a gift.
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