DATA singular or Plural

[Ray-Tube]

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?

 

[emsr2d2]

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!

 

[5jj]

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.

 

[SoothingDave]

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

 

[allenman]

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

 

[Tdol]

Does he use datum?

 

[emsr2d2]

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!

 

[Tdol]

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.

 

[BobK]

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

 

[SoothingDave]

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