"Data Is" or "Data Are"?
Tweets in response to a comment from a reviewer of a paper who commented " the word 'data' is still a plural noun, no matter how many times people may erroneously use it in the singular". Note if anyone cited in this story would like their tweet removed, please let me know - I'd be happy to do that
@herrdoktorc Reviewer then said "Pedantry aside, this is an interesting study with original data" :-) We are pleased (my co-author and I)
@briankelly Reviewer. Datum is the singular. But widely used in IT to mean 'information' which makes it feel singular IMO.
@briankelly grammatically, the reviewer is - colloquially, you are - take your pick - personally, i'd ignore the reviewer
@briankelly 'The data were..' is grammatically correct see also 'The apples were eaten.' cf 'The data was...' and 'The apple was eaten.'
@andypowe11 it ain't that simple Andy (language never is) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data#Usag… curious to see what @wilbertkraan thinks! @briankelly
@briankelly Pft!Common usage.Who the heck says datum?Lingo is fluid-caterpiller misspelt as caterpillar by Dr Johnson in his dictionary!
@andypowe11 @briankelly if you can't ignore the reviewer, rewrite the sentence so that "the data" is the object in an active voice...- @andypowe11 @briankelly ..or use sneaky tricks like referring to "the dataset" or "the information" or "the log entries" or "the responses"
@briankelly hi Brian Re data. We have to accept that common usage is singular, as we do for porridge. Very weird now to write 'data are..'
@briankelly according to the guardian, it's plural guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/…
@briankelly He's wrong to suggest that usage can't change. It can - with data, I'd guess that it will, if it hasn't already.
@briankelly the insistence that 'the data are' is one of those things that never fail to irritate me
@briankelly The rule, where preposition is plural, use a plural verb applies. For me, with 'data' that's never been innate.- @ostephens @briankelly For a collective noun could say is/are..."My family is/are"
@briankelly Mmm? I'd go for "the data was collected" (plural) or "datum were collected" (singular). Technically correct but sounds wrong?- @briankelly + as Stephen Fry would doubtless observe language evolves in use & anyway "data was collected" makes sense in that context?
- @wilm awesome! I refuse to accept and understand 'bored of' regardless of what Language Log says! @andypowe11 @briankelly
@briankelly "He who pays the piper calls the tune" guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/… says it all really.
