RE: I suppose this is my most frustrating grammar error

Subject: RE: I suppose this is my most frustrating grammar error
From: "Andrew Dugas" <dugas -at- intalio -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 08:49:28 -0800

Yes, technically that's true.

But I think and hope the word is moving towards being an uncountable noun
like water or beer. The usage of datum has become awkward and the English
language is averse to plurals that do not end in "s" or have an interesting
differentiating form, like mice or octupi. I also think the digitization of
information has introduced the word "bit" into our vocabulary; I often see
references to "data bits" which suggests a unit of data, which in turn
supports the concept of data being an uncountable noun.

Anyway, good morning.

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-88324 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-88324 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
greg -dot- hamill -at- teradyne -dot- com
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 6:54 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: I suppose this is my most frustrating grammar error



No offence to Jeff (only the most recent user of this), but "data" is a
plural noun.
Greg


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References:
I suppose this is my most frustrating grammar error: From: greg . hamill

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