Re: collective nouns -- Re: Optimal programming advice

In article <dfs5er$ri4$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Rich Townsend <rhdt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Whereas "data" is, intrinsically, a plural word. If the singular version
> was intended, then "datum" should have been used instead. I can't think
> of any context where "data" should be treated as singular, but I'd be
> happy to hear specific claims of singularity.

Flight data is needed to validate aerodynamic characteristics.

While many pieces of data are certainly involved, the statement is about
the collective data as a whole. I find the singular verb appropriate.

NASA publication folk often have a knee-jerk reaction to always treat
data as plural, but that's just a bureaucratic rule. It is the nature of
bureaucratic rules that they get applied without thought in cases where
they make no sense. That's almost the defining property of bureaucracy.
NASA has a bunch of other grammatical and spelling rules that have on
occasion caused me to reword reports to avoid the "problem" rule because
I didn't want to sound as illiterate as the NASA rule was going to make
me appear. I've generally noticed that the alleged NASA publication
experts who explain these rules to me don't seem to be as well read on
the subjects as I am.

I consider the rule that "data is always plural" to be much like "never
use goto". While it might be good advice in a majority of the cases, it
often gets applied in an automatic manner to places where it makes
things worse instead of better.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain | experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
.

Relevant Pages