Data are or data is? | Language | The Guardian

Here's the root of the matter: strictly-speaking, data is a plural term. Ie, if we're following the rules of grammar, we shouldn't write "the ... SkiptomaincontentSkiptonavigationAdvertisementNewsOpinionSportCultureLifestyleShowMoreShowMoreNewsWorldnewsUKnewsCoronavirusClimatecrisisEnvironmentScienceGlobaldevelopmentFootballTechBusinessObituariesOpinionTheGuardianviewColumnistsCartoonsOpinionvideosLettersSportFootballCricketRugbyunionTennisCyclingF1GolfUSsportsCultureBooksMusicTV&radioArt&designFilmGamesClassicalStageLifestyleFashionFoodRecipesLove&sexHealth&fitnessHome&gardenWomenMenFamilyTravelMoneyMakeacontributionSubscribeSearchjobsHolidaysDigitalArchiveGuardianPuzzlesappGuardiancontentlicensingsiteTheGuardianappVideoPodcastsPicturesNewslettersToday'spaperInsidetheGuardianTheObserverGuardianWeeklyCrosswordsSearchjobsHolidaysDigitalArchiveGuardianPuzzlesappGuardiancontentlicensingsiteDatablogLanguageDataareordatais?Isitsingularorplural?It'sawordweuseeverydayhereontheDatablog-butarewegettingitcompletelywrong?TheGuardian'sdatajournalismworkflow.Butarewesayingitright?Illustration:MarkMcCormickfortheGuardianTheGuardian'sdatajournalismworkflow.Butarewesayingitright?Illustration:MarkMcCormickfortheGuardianSimonRogersSun8Jul201210.30BSTHowdoyousay"data"?Ionlyaskbecauseit'sacontentiousissue.Alongwithsplitinfinitives,gettingthisonewrongoffendsanddelightsinequalmeasure.And,aswewriteaboutdataeveryday,we'reeithergettingitverywrongorveryright.TheWallStreetJournalhasjustpublishedthisblogpost,inwhichitfinallydecidestomoveawayfromdata"are",saying: Moststyleguidesanddictionarieshavecometoaccepttheuseofthenoundatawitheithersingularorpluralverbs,andweherebyjointhemajority. Asusagehasevolvedfromtheword'soriginastheLatinpluralofdatum,singularverbsnowareoftenusedtorefertocollectionsofinformation:Littledataisavailabletosupporttheconclusions. Otherwise,generallycontinuetousetheplural:Dataarestillbeingcollected. Whenweaskedthequestionacoupleofyearsago,loadsofyoudebateditinamuch-polarisedmanneronTwitter. @jhugmanDataisplural.Unsurethecorrect"datumpoint"willcatchonthough.Havingreferendaaboutlatindeclentionsbelonginmusea. @mkdDCCNotodatum.Weneedtorelaxaboutthedatais/arething.ItmaynotbegoodLatin,butwe'renotspeakingLatin. @DerekLOfcoursedataisplural.Andwhatiswrongwithdatumforasingleitemofdata? @holizzSingulardataannoysthesamepeoplethatfindsplitinfinitivesobjectionable-pedantswithnounderstandingoflinguistics. Here'stherootofthematter:strictly-speaking,dataisapluralterm.Ie,ifwe'refollowingtherulesofgrammar,weshouldn'twrite"thedatais"or"thedatashows"butinstead"thedataare"or"thedatashow".TheOxfordEnglishdictionarydefinesitlikethis: InLatin,dataisthepluralofdatumand,historicallyandinspecializedscientificfields,itisalsotreatedasapluralinEnglish,takingapluralverb,asinthedatawerecollectedandclassified.Inmodernnon-scientificuse,however,despitethecomplaintsoftraditionalists,itisoftennottreatedasaplural.Instead,itistreatedasamassnoun,similartoawordlikeinformation,whichcannotnormallyhaveapluralandwhichtakesasingularverb.Sentencessuchasdatawas(aswellasdatawere)collectedoveranumberofyearsarenowwidelyacceptedinstandardEnglish. TheofficialviewfromtheOfficeforNationalStatisticstakesthetraditionalapproach.TheONSstyleguideforthosewritingofficialstatisticssays: Theworddataisapluralnounsowrite"dataare".Datumisthesingular. AndrewGarrattoftheRoyalStatisticalSocietysaysthedebategoesbacktothe1920s-andreareditsheadrecentlywithsomeheateddiscussionintheSociety'snewsletter."Wedon'thaveanofficialview,"hesays."Statisticiansofacertainageandstatusrefertothemaspluralbutpeoplelikemeuseitinthesingular."NationalGeographicmagazinehasdebatedittoo.Forwhatit'sworth,IcanconfidentlysaythatthiswillprobablybetheonlytimeIeverwritetheword"datum"inaDatablogpost.Dataasapluraltermmaybetheproperusagebutlanguageevolvesandwewanttowriteintermsthateveryoneunderstands-andthatdon'tseemridiculous.So,overtoGuardianstyleguruDavidMarsh,whomakestherulesinthesepartsaboutlanguageuse.Hesays: It'slikeagenda,aLatinpluralthatisnowalmostuniversallyusedasasingular.Technicallythesingularisdatum/agendum,butwefeelitsoundsincreasinglyhyper-correct,old-fashionedandpompoustosay"thedataare". AndtheGuardianstyleguideexpressesitlikethis: Datatakesasingularverb(likeagenda),thoughstrictlyaplural;nooneeveruses"agendum"or"datum" That'sourview.Whatdoyouthink?WorldgovernmentdataSearchtheworld'sgovernmentdatawithourgatewayCanyoudosomethingwiththisdata?FlickrPleasepostyourvisualisationsandmash-upsonourFlickrgroupormailusatdatastore@guardian.co.ukTopicsLanguageDatablogWrittenlanguageblogpostsReusethiscontentcomments(…)CommentinghasbeendisabledatthistimebutyoucanstillsigninorcreateyourGuardianaccounttojointhediscussionwhenit'sbackcomments(…)CommentinghasbeendisabledatthistimebutyoucanstillsigninorcreateyourGuardianaccounttojointhediscussionwhenit'sback