Properly, "data are"; a "datum is"...

is "anecdote."

haha science joke.

'data' can be either singular or plural depending on the context and whether the datum is a collective or countable entity.

Consider the following: "Are more children going to be hungry each night? The data is inconclusive" sounds to my ear as gramatically correct as "The data are inconclusive" (which sounds a little stilted to my ear).

then its are.

Check the New York Times Manual of Style. Mine is lost in the mists of time. My bet is that data are plural.

a descriptive or proscriptive track. Usage of "data" as a collective noun is growing apace. "Data is" is very, very commonly used. The descriptive grammarian will say that the language is evolving in that direction. The proscriptive grammarian will continue to declare it to be incorrect usage.

Guess who'll win. My money's on the evolution of that word into a collective singular noun.

Of course, in the UK, it still is "General Motors are." Here, we say, "General Motors is."

Expect to see "data is" more often than "data are" over time. The vast bulk of people do not even know that it is the plural of datum. The battle over that one is lost.

I grew up with "datum is/data are" so that's what I'm used to. There's just one Greek-through-Latin words Americans can't handle. "Agendas" makes my teeth itch as badly as "irregardless". "Agendum" is one item, "agenda" are items-plural, agendas is just-plain ignernt.

(insert wise-ass Mona Lisa smile here)

We don't teach Latin and Greek any longer. Classical education is gone forever.

I've been forced to become a descriptive grammarian. My concession is that I don't use the words data and agenda very often. I don't need the arguments. Although, I had a great fondness of one of my copy editors years ago. We had the best discussions about such issues.

As in, "Data is happy"


or "Data is laughing at your expense"


or as in "Data is the USS Enterprise's version of a crazy cat lady"


Or "Data is the one who smoked all your stash"

Than after much grammar research, I found it could be used as singular or plural.

The data is correct. Several different stacks of data are used to come to that conclusion.

I made that mistake with my committee once. Once.

If the Guardian is willing to allow for some linguistic evolution, there might be hope for us colonials after all.

it may very well evolve to be different.

But under the current rules it's wrong.

Just like "alot" is a word in the popular media.

Who writes the "rules" of discourse?

English is an evolving language. Sure.

But there are rules. Think back to English class. If you wrote "I is be doing something" would you get a good mark or a bad mark?

That kind of "grammar" is acceptable among some populations. But it is not generally considered correct by educated people.

For example, Oxford and Websters have very different policies about what is "correct". Oxford tends to be an arbiter while Websters tends to be an observer. And to make it even more interesting cultures and subcultures have differing views about the very idea of someone having "authority" to regulate language (look into how the Japanese go about it).

You accept academic regulators since you desire to be accepted in that subculture, but considering how trivial the number of academics are in relation to the rest of the population, why would you think that their view is "correct"?

data the plural.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/datum

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/datum

I don't know dude, when both those dictionaries agree on the definition of a word . . . maybe just let it go.

Perhaps you could have read the article in the OP and responded on the actual topic, which is how language evolves. They use data as the focal point of the discussion, but the point isn't about what the dictionary says.

I like linguistics; perhaps that is a failing, I don't know...

"this data" or "these data"?

The data is plentiful.

Singular is datum. Basic Latin.

Where "to boldly go" is no longer bold.

I spent my entire life as a legal secretary so these little grammatical things are deeply engrained. I can recite the Gregg Reference Manual verbatim. (Not really, but its pages are well worn.)

People that treat it as a plural are pretentious twits and can go STFU.

If I back into "data" looking at a lot of individual data, then I use the plural.

Then again, then I pronounce "data" as the plural of "datum." It doesn't rhyme with "day-tum', but "dat-tum". One datum, two data.

If I just pull the word "data" out of the air--"Let me see your data"--then I say "day-ta" and it's singular. I individuate the members of that collective using the word "number" or "points."

Ultimately, "data" will go the way of "agenda", though--a Latin plural borrowed into English as a singular. One thing slowing it down is competition from the word "datum." "Agendum" isn't common enough to matter. Then again, "agenda" is a normal noun, individuated with a plural: "This agenda, these agendas." I don't expect "this data, but look at those datas from the other teams" to be acceptable any time soon. I can't say it: I have to say "data sets."

Another drag on the shift are prescriptive rules used in formal speech. When I'm speaking more formally, then (the word) "data" is only plural.

Oh, and spelling.

....or data indicates.