Re: collective nouns -- Re: Optimal programming advice

In article <nospam-166F18.08145309092005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Richard E Maine <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Flight data is needed to validate aerodynamic characteristics.

While I might well speak, or even write, this sentence myself, I
don't think this is a good example of the use of "singular" data.

First, if you change "is" to "are", the meaning of the sentence
remains unchanged. That is, "data" really does have a plural
meaning in the sentence, so it probably should be conjugated with
"are" rather than "is".

Second, if you try to use a singular article adjective to refer to
"flight data", it sounds odd to my ear. For example, "A flight data
is needed to validate aerodynamic characteristics." doesn't sound
right, which suggests also that "flight data" really is a plural
entity in that sentence. If you change "A" to "More" or "Some" or
some other adjective associated with a plural noun, then it sounds
alright.

On the other hand, "these data" is grammatically correct, but it
never really sounds right to me either, probably because almost no
one uses it that way in everyday spoken language.

$.02 -Ron Shepard
.

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