|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1 |
Can anyone tell me which is correct?- since data is plural, I am in a disagreement over this:
The data is correct.
The data are correct.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 20
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 20 |
To score points with your English teacher, the data ***are*** definitely correct. Plural every time. (And so are the media, but that's a different story.)
But when the construction is less clear, the plural sounds odd to my ears: "The data coming in from the field suggest that we are going broke." Correct, but losing in the court of public opinion.
So you can be right...or popular. (Story of my life....)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I can agree with the previous post, because I got burned by a not-very-nice-and-rather-vindictive professor on my Master's thesis examination committee on this. Data is plural; datum is singular.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
To clarify the above I would write: The data are correct. The data show that the theory is correct. The data were taken using a computer. and so on. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Who was it who said, "I would rather be right than be president"? Me too. Data are, every time.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
I believe we've discussed this before and come to the conclusion that data as a single entity (used as a synonym for information) is singular, but when one is talking about more than one bit of datum it's plural.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
A related one is "Agenda" I believe. Rather than say "the next item on the agenda is Point 2", is it more appropriate to say something like ..."the next agendum is Point 2."
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
I choose my rearguard actions with care these days. Latinate plurals are not a ditch I'm prepared to die in any more. I've taken to using agenda instead of agendum, curriculums instead of curriculae, and data instead of datum rather than getting funny looks or having people tell me I've misspelled them.  You may now all curse me for my moral torpitude. [Hanging Head with Defiant Gleam in the Eye emoticon]
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
You may now all curse me for my moral torpitude
To paraphrase a truly nasty bit of jingoism: "my countryman! My countryman right or wrong, but always my countryman!" The preceding rant inspired not by patriotism (yrch!) but by a desire to obfuscate my own shockingly inconsistent stand on the issue under discussion. The only one of your listed examples I cling to is "data" as a plural, apart from very occasional flirtations with curriculae, as curriculums is just plain ugly to say.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,330
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
932
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
