"JSDY" == Joseph S D Yao <[email protected]>
JSDY> But, Claire ... the word "data" _IS_ plural. It's the
JSDY> plural of datum. Which is the singular of data. ;-)
JSDY> American English and British English have a number of
JSDY> disagreements about how a collective noun is used, in
JSDY> terms of number. The word "data" actually originated as
JSDY> a plural, as above; but is often used as a collective
JSDY> noun these days with dashing disregard for its history.
I think ``history'' is the key. The meaning (and spelling!) of
words change (sometimes dramatically) over time, and, in much the
same way that ``acknowledgement'' is now in the dictionary as a
valid spelling of ``acknowledgment'', data is becoming widely
accepted a valid collective noun.
See the usage comments on data in a recent dictionary (e.g.,
_Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary_, 11th edition, m-w.com, or
the New Oxford American Dictionary on a Mac). Or, for more fun,
see the list of ``significant rule changes'' in the sixteenth
edition of the _Chicago Manual of Style_ [0].
As a writer and speaker, you have to figure out which changes
you're okay with, and then change how you write and speak to go
with the cultural flow, and which changes you just don't like, and
curmudgeonly hang on to the old way of doing those things.
If you have to follow some particular set of rules, perhaps
because your employer or publisher mandates that you do so, you
don't have to worry about choosing yourself, but the choices made
for you may, of course, chafe.
Claire
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Claire M. Connelly [email protected]
System Administrator, Dept. of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College
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