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Thread: DATA singular or Plural

  1. #1
    Ray-Tube's Avatar
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    Default DATA singular or Plural

    Thank you members and teachers.

    I'm in IT field and often hear people say,
    Data and Deta "Data pronunciation.

    so could you please correct me and give me information between these pronunciation and what are their meaning?

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    emsr2d2 is offline VIP Member
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray-Tube View Post
    Thank you members and teachers.

    I'm in IT field and often hear people say,
    Data and Deta "Data pronunciation.

    so could you please correct me and give me information between these pronunciation and what are their meaning?
    In BrE it's usually "day-tuh" and in AmE I usually hear "datt-uh". Sorry, I don't do phonetic symbols!

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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Quote Originally Posted by emsr2d2 View Post
    In BrE it's usually "day-tuh" and in AmE I usually hear "datt-uh". Sorry, I don't do phonetic symbols!
    "day-tuh" = /ˈdeɪtə/; BrE: 92%, AmE:64%
    "da(r)t-uh" =/dɑ:tə; BrE: 6%, AmE 1%
    "datt-uh" = /dætə/; BrE: 2%, AmE 35%

    The figures are percentages of people who use this form, from John Wells's Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.

    For most Americans, the /t/ will be voiced to some extent.

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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    No matter how one says it, the meaning is the same.

    And the word can be considered plural or singular, depending on how the information is thought about.

    Data | Define Data at Dictionary.com
    5jj likes this.

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    allenman is offline Member
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Quote Originally Posted by SoothingDave View Post
    And the word can be considered plural or singular, depending on how the information is thought about.
    Unless you're my dad who refuses to use "data" in the singular -- He'll say "the data ARE wrong" -- whereas I rarely use it in the plural and would say "the data IS wrong". Sigh...

    Not a teacher -- AmE native

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    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Does he use datum?

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    emsr2d2 is offline VIP Member
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Quote Originally Posted by Tdol View Post
    Does he use datum?
    And how often would that be used anyway? We usually refer to "collecting data". You can't "collect datum" - by definition, if you're collecting, you're collecting more than one!

    The data are wrong.
    The pieces of data are wrong.
    There must be one datum in there that is wrong.

    I don't think I know anyone who uses data in the plural now that my wonderful, pedantic grandfather has passed away!

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    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    I still come across it in the plural scientific texts, but that's about it nowadays. I never use it in the plural.

    I can't recall hearing datum used, but was curious to know if the sticklers did.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    I don't think they do, and if they do they're wrong. A 'datum' now means something entirely different - in fact you could have data specifying a datum

    Interestingly, the Latin datum means exactly the same as a word often used - particularly in scientific discourse: '[a] given'.

    b

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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: DATA singular or Plural

    Yes, a "datum" is a reference location for a set of measurements or dimensions.

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