Yikes- my third post today. 

Paul
You are correct that the is/are choice is different depending on the placement 
of the apostrophe. Which means I may have made one or the other error -either 
"student's data are"  or "students' data is" would be incorrect depending on 
the circumstance- I actually meant, "students' data are".  At least in this 
case my most egregious error would only provoke folks (my spouse, for example) 
who are "data are" sensitive. :) She'd argue that even if you meant the data 
from a single student, "unless it is a single data point it 'are data'". (She 
uses that to help students remember that "data are plural and datum is 
singular"). So I guess technically the sentence could read, "student's datum 
is". Ahh, cold medication and sleep deprivation. Best.   
Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul C Bernhardt [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 10:49 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] Need ideas for intro psych lab section

I think "the student's data is uploaded" and "the students' data are uploaded" 
are both correct, though the latter is probably a more accurate reflection of 
what would be done for a class. Note the position of the possessive apostrophe. 

Paul C. Bernhardt
Department of Psychology
Frostburg State University
Frostburg, Maryland




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