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Epi Wit & Wisdom Letters
Readers Weigh
in on Proper Usage of “Data”
Dear Editor,
I am always correcting my
students who write data IS in their papers. DATA refers to numbers.
Would you say “the numbers shows...” or “the numbers IS...” or “the
numbers demonstrates...?” For some reason people are having a harder
and harder time dealing with the concept of plurality. Actually, I
seem to be using the singular verb with the word data more and more
often—Data IS a plural word!
John W. Gardner
Dear Editor,
As someone who has studied
and even published translations of Latin texts, I agree with Pam
Phillips: even in English usage one correctly writes, “one datum”,
“two or more data.” Similarly, the distinction should be preserved in
English between one “stratum”, and “two strata.” I remember that when
Joe Fleiss lectured us as biostatistics students, he was particular
about his “one criterion/two criteria” distinction (Greek, not Latin
of course). In consequence, throughout my various publications, I have
never accepted erroneous usage with respect to these terms, and when I
review manuscripts I make sure the standard is upheld.
However, I disagree with Pam
Phillips when she says “grammar should not be determined by usage
(since it’s often wrong).” Alas! As Aulus Gellius wrote, “Consuetudo
vicit quae cum omnium domina rerum, tum maxime verborum est”—-Usage
won out, the supreme authority in all things, and especially in
language.” Usage does indeed determine the course of language and
sloppy, poorly spoken, case-deprived, provincial dialects of Latin,
namely French, Spanish, and the like came to replace Latin language.
Bart K. Holland
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Dear Editor,
Always: Data ARE, Never:
Data is
My personal pet peeve: an
apostrophe in the plural of an acronym (e.g., HMO’s are a growing
segment of the health care industry.)
Carol Smith
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Dear Editor,
I strongly support Pam
Phillips’ contention that “grammar should not be determined by usage.”
Treating “data” as a singular noun is not good English any more than
is splitting infinitives (despite the exhortation of Star Trek’s
creators “to boldly go where no man...”), and therefore should not be
done in formal writing.
Ken
O’Dowd
Published June 1997
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