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.
According to my handbooks/stylebooks from my days in journalism “data” is plural, but most often considered a unit – a collective noun – and should take a singular verb.
Your data is invalid. (unit)
The data were collected from seven tracking sites. (individual items)
You are correct. I believe the phrase is mass noun, or something like that. However, when writing and speaking in an academic or scientific venue, it should only be used in the plural form.
Now watch when I am speaking in a field training video, I’ll go and say, ‘… my data is…‘ You may feel free to tear me to shreds for it! Thanks for the comment, Meems. Please stay tuned as I am continuing to dial in the elements of this page a little each day. If you have any questions or topics you want discussed in the meantime, send me a message: jay@geolojay.com