Would you say ' *the people is* . . . ' ?
bobh
On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Chip Davis <[email protected]> wrote:
> Not so fast. Speaking as an unashamed grammar/spelling nag who was
> eating, shooting, and leaving long before the book came out, this is
> one case where the best rule is to go with what sounds most natural to
> the ear.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data et cetera
>
> Robert is correct as to the origin of "data" but like the hoary
> admonition never to split an infinitive, this is another case where
> the Latinate grammar rule does not work well with modern English
> usage. "Data" is usually considered a mass noun, like "food". You
> wouldn't say "Here are your food", would you?
>
> Litmus tests: Which sounds more natural: "Here's your data" or "Here
> are your data"? "This data is unreliable" or "These data are unreliable"?
>
> Admittedly, many formal style guides require "data" to be used as a
> plural noun, but such usage sounds pretentious, along the lines of "It
> is I at the door."
>
> Bottom line: despite its origin as a plural noun, we think of an
> aggregation of datum as a single conceptual unit, thus we treat it as
> a singular noun.
>
> -Chip-
>
> On 12/23/10 18:21 Mark Miesfeld said:
> > Hi Bob,
> >
> > My English grammar is not the best. But, if "data is" is incorrect
> > grammar, I think we could fix it.
> >
> > --
> > Mark Miesfeld
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Robert Hamilton <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >> I've started looking at rxMath and have a question. I intend to flag "
> data
> >> is " because the word data is the plural of "datum" and 'data is ' is
> like
> >> saying 'people is .'
> >>
> >> bobh
> >>
> >> PS: I don't expect it to get changed. . .
> >>
> >>
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