Data (word)

The word ''data'' is most often used as a singular mass noun in educated everyday usage. However, due to the history of the word, considerable controversy has existed on whether it should be considered a mass noun used with verbs conjugated in the singular, or should be treated as the plural of the now-rarely-used ''datum''.

Usage in English

In one sense, ''data'' is the plural form of ''datum''. ''Datum'' actually can also be a count noun with the plural ''datums'' (see usage in datum article) that can be used with cardinal numbers (e.g., "80 datums"); ''data'' (originally a Latin plural) is not used like a normal count noun with cardinal numbers and can be plural with such plural determiners as ''these'' and ''many'' or as a mass noun with a verb in the singular form.
Even when a very small quantity of data is referenced (one number, for example), the phrase ''piece of data'' is often used, as opposed to ''datum''. The debate over appropriate usage continues, but "data" as a singular form is far more common.

In English, the word ''datum'' is still used in the general sense of "an item given". In cartography, geography, nuclear magnetic resonance and technical drawing, it is often used to refer to a single specific reference datum from which distances to all other data are measured. Any measurement or result is a ''datum'', though ''data point'' is now far more common.

''Data'' is indeed most often used as a singular mass noun in educated everyday usage. Some major newspapers, such as ''The New York Times'', use it either in the singular or plural. In ''The New York Times'', the phrases "the survey data are still being analyzed" and "the first year for which data is available" have appeared within one day. ''The Wall Street Journal'' explicitly allows this usage in its style guide.
The Associated Press style guide classifies ''data'' as a collective noun that takes the singular when treated as a unit but the plural when referring to individual items (e.g., "The data is sound" and "The data have been carefully collected").

In scientific writing, ''data'' is often treated as a plural, as in ''These data do not support the conclusions'', but the word is also used as a singular mass entity like ''information'' (e.g., in computing and related disciplines). British usage now widely accepts treating ''data'' as singular in standard English, including everyday newspaper usage at least in non-scientific use. UK scientific publishing still prefers treating it as a plural. Some UK university style guides recommend using ''data'' for both singular and plural use, and others recommend treating it only as a singular in connection with computers. The IEEE Computer Society allows usage of ''data'' as either a mass noun or plural based on author preference, while IEEE in the editorial style manual indicates to always use the plural form. Some professional organizations and style guides require that authors treat ''data'' as a plural noun. For example, the Air Force Flight Test Center once stated that the word ''data'' is always plural, never singular.

References

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Information science
Etymologies
English words