The word "information."

[cls1992]

I am a doctoral learner. I submitted a paper and was corrected on the point that the word "information" is ALWAYS plural. I have never heard anyone say "information are." Is this plural usage only in scholarly writing, or has the whole of America been saying "information is" incorrectly.

Thank you.

[yeng23]

information is. . . .

informations are. . . . .

is-singular
are-plural

[Teia]

Originally Posted by cls1992

I am a doctoral learner. I submitted a paper and was corrected on the point that the word "information" is ALWAYS plural. I have never heard anyone say "information are." Is this plural usage only in scholarly writing, or has the whole of America been saying "information is" incorrectly.

Thank you.

Yeng :
Informations is incorrect. Information is [not are!]

Cls 1992 :
The noun information is always followed by verbs or determinatives in the singular. Information is an uncountable noun

e.g.

The information [ that] he got was important. It [the information] was important.
If you want to change information into a countable noun, you have to use a quantifier : a piece of

Those / These pieces of information were important , but
That / This information was / is important.

Note : information has a plural meaning but , as I have already said, it is an uncountable noun followed by a singular verb or determiner.

[Tdol]

I agree with Teia; I use 'information' uncountably. 'Data' is often used uncountably in everyday English, but in academic English datum/data are used as singular and plural.

[amigos4]

Originally Posted by cls1992

I am a doctoral learner. I submitted a paper and was corrected on the point that the word "information" is ALWAYS plural. I have never heard anyone say "information are." Is this plural usage only in scholarly writing, or has the whole of America been saying "information is" incorrectly.

Thank you.

Can you give us the specific sentence that caught the attention of your professor?

[cls1992]

Originally Posted by amigos4

Can you give us the specific sentence that caught the attention of your professor?

The sentence read: "Knowing how to obtain knowledge and knowing how to use that information is being recognized as a very important issue."

Although the professor said that "information" is always plural, I think the situation is different than that. Perhaps you can help clarify.

[amigos4]

Originally Posted by cls1992

The sentence read: "Knowing how to obtain knowledge and knowing how to use that information is being recognized as a very important issue."

Although the professor said that "information" is always plural, I think the situation is different than that. Perhaps you can help clarify.

cls1992,

I am still having difficulty understanding your professor's position. So, let me throw out this thought: Would the following sentence satisfy his concept of 'plural'? "Knowing how to obtain knowledge and knowing how to use that information are recognized as very important issues."

(Knowing how to fish and knowing how to properly clean that fish are two important components of your camping adventure.)

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Amigos4

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by cls1992

The sentence read: "Knowing how to obtain knowledge and knowing how to use that information is being recognized as a very important issue."

Although the professor said that "information" is always plural, I think the situation is different than that. Perhaps you can help clarify.

An interesting problem in its own right.

You have two actions - [knowing how to obtain knowledge] and [knowing how to use the information obtained] - which are being seen as a single important issue. The question is whether it is the two actions separately that govern the verb, or the two actions as a joint action?

Information in itself is always singular, but in fact it is not "information" that is relevant, but "knowing how to use the information". I cannot see why the professor is hung up on the word.

[cls1992]

Originally Posted by Anglika

An interesting problem in its own right.

You have two actions - [knowing how to obtain knowledge] and [knowing how to use the information obtained] - which are being seen as a single important issue. The question is whether it is the two actions separately that govern the verb, or the two actions as a joint action?

Information in itself is always singular, but in fact it is not "information" that is relevant, but "knowing how to use the information". I cannot see why the professor is hung up on the word.

I thank you for your comments. This was an online class, which I am no longer taking. The professor was not from America, so he may have considered "information" and "data" to be the same. I will not be using "information are." Thanks again for your responses. This includes you Amigos4.

[Wholeman]

Isn't the 'Information Age' a wonderful thing?



Wholeman
The twisted TG-Fiction Author