Re: Data a collective noun?

[Buck and Tilly Buchanan <writer -at- NTWS -dot- NET>]

Data, when a synonym for "information" is singular.

When referring to multiple pieces of information it's plural.

It's a gray distinction, but when in doubt, data is

Why? Because it just doesn't sound right.

Anything that doesn't "sound" right pulls the user's/reader's attention
fron the task to the word.

Sometimes TWs must go against the grain of folks like my former boss,
who said, "Data always are, because of my Latin background."


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Buck and Tilly Buchanan
Publishers, The Alvord Gazette
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