English language question..

[VJ]

Hello,

Simple language question: is the word "data" singular or plural? Or does it depend?
Do you write "data is ..." or "data are..."?
And what if you add "the": "the data is..." or "the data are ..."?

Thanks!

[Wulfman]

datum is the singular, data the plural, ergo: data are...

but I have to admit that I regularly stumble over the wording myself, and that it might be different in computer sciences.

cheers,
w

[Brian Ellis]

The same with medium and media. One newspaper is a medium; two newspapers are media. 'The media say...' therefore implies more than one source of info.

[TransformX]

Data is also a singular noun representing a large quantity of elements, like the word Nation.

[Brian Ellis]

Oxford:

M17.

I. pl. & collect. sing.

1. Things given or granted; things known or assumed as facts, and made the basis of reasoning or calculation. M17.

E. F. Benson She had to make the best plans on the data that were hers. or OUP 9

2. Facts, esp. numerical facts, collected together for reference or information. L19.

B. Lovell These data confirmed..that the surface of Venus must have a high temperature. face="P

3. The quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by computers and other automatic equipment, and which may be stored and transmitted in the form of electrical signals, records on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media, etc. M20.

Computer Weekly They have done little to analyse and interpret this data. , etc. <

II. sing.

4. A piece of information, a statistic. rare. E19.

Comb.: data bank a place where data are stored in large amounts; database an organized store of data for computer processing; data capture: see CAPTURE noun 6; datacom(s), data communications the use of communication networks and devices to transmit digital information; data entry the process or operation of inputting data to a computer system; dataglove a device worn like a glove and containing sensors linked to a representation of a hand in a computer display, allowing the manual manipulation of images in virtual reality; data link a telecommunications link over which data are transmitted; data-logger: see LOGGER noun1 2; data mining the practice of examining large pre-existing databases in order to generate new information; data processing the performance by automatic means of any operations on empirical data, such as classifying or analysing them; data processor a machine for data processing; data protection the legal regulation of access to data stored in computers; data retrieval the obtaining of data stored on a computer system; data sheet a leaflet containing a summary of useful information on a subject; data stream = STREAM noun 5e; data structure the way data are organized in a computer, in so far as it affects the use or modification of the data; data terminal: at which a person can enter data into a computer-based system or receive data from one; data type a particular kind of data item, as defined by the values it can take or the operations that can be performed on it; data warehouse a large store of data accumulated from a wide range of sources within a company and used to guide management decisions.

¶ The sing. uses are freq. regarded as erroneous.

[VJ]

Thanks guys!

[Jammrock]

Data are may be the Oxford way, but data in the IT sense of the word is used as a singular. As in a singular collection of information. If you were referring to multiple sets of datum then "data are" and if you are referring to a generalized collection of information then "data is".

See Merriam Webster's dictionary.

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

Main Entry: da·ta
Pronunciation: \ˈdā-tə, ˈda- also ˈdä-\
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Latin, plural of datum
Date: 1646

1 : factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation <the data is plentiful and easily available — H. A. Gleason, Jr.> <comprehensive data on economic growth have been published — N. H. Jacoby>
2 : information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful
3 : information in numerical form that can be digitally transmitted or processed
usage

Data leads a life of its own quite independent of datum, of which it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a plural noun (like earnings), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers (as these, many, a few) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a referent for plural pronouns; and as an abstract mass noun (like information), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (as this, much, little), and being referred to by a singular pronoun. Both constructions are standard. The plural construction is more common in print, perhaps because the house style of some publishers mandates it.

[Brian Ellis]

Another case of the common language that separates us.