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As a native speaker I refuse to say 'these data' or the word datum. I prefer 'this data' for plural and 'this piece of data' for singular. Yes I know its wrong
by anitil 8y ago
As a native speaker I refuse to say 'these data' or the word datum. I prefer 'this data' for plural and 'this piece of data' for singular. Yes I know its wrong in some sense, but I think that ship has sailed
- kazinator 8y ago> that ship has sailed Wha? Oh, you mean quae navis navigaverunt.
- anitil 8y agoHaha yes of course!
- philwelch 8y agoI've also seen "data point" used when a singular form is required. I think in common usage, "data" is a mass noun like "mayonnaise" rather than a plural.
- kazinator 8y agoThat's a good point! Because the compound noun rules in English normally call for all nouns, other than the head of the noun phrase, to be singular. This applies to the singulars that denote single objects too: scissor lift, pant leg; not scissors lift or pants leg. According to this principle, it should be datum point, where only the head noun point may be pluralized. "Datum point" exists, but I've never seen or heard it in use; it's just a "confirm by Google".
- anitil 8y ago'Data point' - much better!
- vorg 8y ago> in common usage, "data" is a mass noun like "mayonnaise" Were you also commenting on its pronunciation? I'd instead say: "data" is a mass noun like "mahyonnaise" and "tomahto sauce".
- a1369209993 8y ago"Datum" (and its plural, "datums") is legitimate if you're talking about, eg, one filled-out survey form, or one array element. It's basically like "water molecule"; you wouldn't say "these water are cold", but "this datum is a outlier" makes sense.
- anitil 8y agoWhile I understand, and agree that you are correct, I still don't like this wording. I prefer the sound of 'this data point is an outlier' or 'this point is an outlier'