data

plural noun

(often as singular)

a lack of data on the drug's side effects

Syn:

facts, figures, statistics, details, particulars, specifics; information, intelligence, material, input; informal info

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data

Whether you write "data are" or "data is", you’re likely to make some readers raise their eyebrows. Technically a plural, data has, since the 1940s, been increasingly treated as a mass noun taking a singular verb. But in more or less formal contexts it is preferably treated as a plural — e.g.: "The data are derived from tests performed on expectant mothers." (Economist; Mar. 24, 2001.) Many writers use it as a singular, however, risking their credibility with some readers (admittedly a shrinking minority) — e.g.: "No data is offered to suggest that women are being adversely hit by the dearth of articles." (Globe and Mail [Canada]; Aug. 24, 1993.)

In the context of computing and related disciplines, the singular use of data is common and comfortable — e.g.: "Every time you synchronize your PDA, the data gets backed up to your PC." (PCWorld.com; Feb. 8, 2001.) In one particular use, data is rarely treated as a singular: when it begins a clause and is not preceded by the definite article — e.g.: "Data over the last two years suggest that the rate at which gay men get AIDS has finally begun to flatten out." (New York Times; Feb. 5, 1989.)

Datum, the "true" singular, is sometimes used when a single piece of information is referred to — e.g.: "We accept the law as a necessary datum, but that is not to say that we are required to accept it in abeyance of our critical faculties." (F. R. Leavis, The Common Pursuit; 1952.) Still, in nonscientific contexts, datum is likely to sound pretentious.

Because data can be either a plural count noun or a singular mass noun, both many data and much data are correct — e.g.:

• "Numerous expert and representative interests are consulted, and many data assembled, often over a long period." (Carleton K. Allen, Law in the Making, 7th ed.; 1964.)

• "But much of the data in present personnel files is highly subjective." (William O. Douglas, Points of Rebellion; 1970.) As Albert C. Baugh, a historian of the English language, put it in 1962, "A student with one year of Latin [knows] that data and phenomena are plural." Whatever you do, if you use data in a context in which its number becomes known, you’ll bother some of your readers. Perhaps 50 years from now — maybe sooner, maybe later — everybody will accept it as a collective. But not yet. — BG