One of my pet peeves, and something that is becoming more prevalent in the media, is the grammatical misuse of the word “data” in phrases and sentences. I hear ‘This data…‘ and ‘That data…‘ more and more. In fact, I’m hearing trained meteorologists on the news erroneously combine words in this manner. It grates on my nerves.
Look it. The word “data” is the plural form of the word “datum”. This is identical, for example, to the word “dogs” being the plural of “dog”. Say it aloud, replacing “data” with “dogs” and you’ll hear how silly it sounds:
This dogs further indicate a life assemblage of Middle Silurian age.
See what I mean? There are other words incorrectly linked in sentences. It would behoove you to identify them because like it or not, there are other scientists out there that will use a stupid mistake to discredit you and shatter the integrity of your conclusions.
