Here is my take: Data is a Latin word, but we mainly (>99%) use it in the context of our own languages, so we don't need a pseudo grammar lesson.
We mostly use data in a collective sense, so we refer to the collection of data (IT) and use the singular. 'The data show irregularities', 'the data are inconclusive' etc. look (and unfortunately sound) clumsy, so when used outside a specific Latin language context, we should use the singular - 'the data showS that' , 'the data IS missing' ... :-) If you are isolating one specific nugget of the information, then you can use a term such as 'this specific aspect of the data', 'this item of data may be of interest ...' etC.
As for somebody actually having the front to use 'datum' as the singular form in a non-Latin context (you probably know who you are ...), then the Pontifical Academy for Latin may be the place for you ;-)
I have tagged this under 'Academic Writing', but also found the suggestion of 'Python' (as offered by the drop-down box) very interesting, so I included it as well ... please feel free to let me know what it is !
Hi Nicholas,
interesting observation... i guess it makes sense eitherway.. but seeing usage of the word in singular or plural form can help a person figure out a few things about someone who starts being too grammatically correct, and be cautious not to offend them with grammatic transgressions..
I second the recommendation (and am ready to write a reference in support..) for the Pontifical Academy for Latin to anyone using the word 'Datum' in the context of presenting research work...
I am highly intrigued by the Python tag and am considering following it..
regards, raza
I am very glad this is so .... although the idea of computer programming is not very appealing to me, it is considerably better than the Harry Potter alternative I was envisaging !
As for Pontif.ac - I wonder if they offer a referral bonus ?
I see no reason to not to use the distinction datum - data, bacterium - bacteria etc. These are Latin words which in the traditional English usage were recognized as such and used as such. Nowadays that more more more students do not learn Latin (inlcuding myself) we have to learn these usages. What I hate is the use of "datas".
"Data is a Latin word" if you're writing in Latin. However, data is an English word if you're writing in English, and in English dictionaries, it's defined as a plural noun. Thus, it would be wrong to write "The data is...". The singular form datum can also been found in English dictionaries (as the singular form of data), but I don't think any of my colleagues would really understand what I meant if I told then (or wrote in a paper) that the datum was interesting ;-)
Here is a simple argument put forward by the UK newspaper The Guardian (excerpt below): http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/16/data-plural-singular
“… Here's the root of the matter: strictly-speaking, data is a plural term. I.e., if we're following the rules of grammar, we shouldn't write "the data is" or "the data shows" but instead "the data are" or "the data show".
The Oxford English dictionary defines it like this: In Latin, data is the plural of datum and, historically and in specialized scientific fields, it is also treated as a plural in English, taking a plural verb, as in the data were collected and classified. In modern non-scientific use, however, despite the complaints of traditionalists, it is often not treated as a plural. Instead, it is treated as a mass noun, similar to a word like information, which cannot normally have a plural and which takes a singular verb. Sentences such as data was (as well as data were) collected over a number of years are now widely accepted in standard English.
The official view from the Office for National Statistics takes the traditional approach. The ONS style guide for those writing official statistics says: The word data is a plural noun so write "data are". Datum is the singular. Andrew Garratt of the Royal Statistical Society says the debate goes back to the 1920s - and reared its head recently with some heated discussion in the Society's newsletter. "We don't have an official view," he says. "Statisticians of a certain age and status refer to them as plural but people like me use it in the singular." National Geographic magazine has debated it too. For what it's worth, I can confidently say that this will probably be the only time I ever write the word "datum" in a Datablog post. Data as a plural term may be the proper usage but language evolves and we want to write in terms that everyone understands - and that don't seem ridiculous.
So, over to Guardian style guru David Marsh, who makes the rules in these parts about language use. He says: It's like agenda, a Latin plural that is now almost universally used as a singular. Technically the singular is datum/agendum, but we feel it sounds increasingly hyper-correct, old-fashioned and pompous to say "the data are". And the Guardian style guide expresses it like this: Data takes a singular verb (like agenda), though strictly a plural; no one ever uses "agendum" or "datum" ..."
My own view: I still have to go with data as almost always being a single corpus, so taking the singular verb. Many of the examples that have been stated so far rely on (in my view) outdated teachings and consideration of 'data' as a Latin word & so subject to its classical conventions. The article above however says that .... 'In modern non-scientific use, however, despite the complaints of traditionalists, it is often not treated as a plural'. So why do 'scientists' differ from the hoi polloi (now there's a bit of classic phrasing for you) ?
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