Some debates seem like they’ll never end. The Beatles or the Rolling Stones? White bread or brown bread? Did the moon landing really happen? Is ‘data’ singular or plural?
And unfortunately, while we can prove the moon landing happened, working out how ‘data’ should be used is a bit trickier. Why? Let us explain…
Traditionally, ‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’ (i.e. a single piece of information). So if referring to a specific fact from among a number of facts, you could say:
The individual datum is not conclusive, so more data are needed.
With this approach, you must make sure the subject–verb agreement is correct. For instance, here we use a singular verb (‘is’) with ‘datum’ and a plural verb (‘are’) with ‘data’.
So that’s the problem solved, right? The debate’s over and we can all move on? Not quite…
It’s now common to use ‘data’ as a singular mass (or uncountable) noun, like ‘sand’ or ‘water’. As such, you can use the singular ‘data’ to refer to a large amount of information:
Even after checking a number of sources, the data is still unreliable.
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If it helps, you can think of ‘data’ as similar to ‘information’ in this respect, both in terms of what it means and how it’s used.
How you approach ‘data’ depends on how and where you’re using it.
Formal and technical writing often still distinguishes between the singular ‘datum’ and the plural ‘data’. But you should check your university’s style guide to see if this is the case.
For example, in computing, ‘data’ is a mass noun used to describe the information processed by computers. So ‘data’ would be treated as singular (e.g. ‘The data is entered into the system’).
Likewise, in general conversation, using ‘data’ as a plural could seem overly formal. As such, you should generally say ‘data is’ rather than ‘data are’.
Ultimately, it’s good to be aware of this issue so you can avoid mistakes. But as long as you‘re clear and consistent in how you use ‘data’, you should be fine.
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