Re: collective nouns -- Re: Optimal programming advice

In article <nospam-2AA7F5.09300810092005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Richard Maine <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>In article
><ron-shepard-559726.09490410092005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Ron Shepard <ron-shepard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> In article <nospam-166F18.08145309092005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>> Richard E Maine <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> > Flight data is needed to validate aerodynamic characteristics.
>>
>> "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.
>
>I agree it doesn't sound right, but I disagree about the reason. I'd say
>that it was more that the "data" was neither a specific singular item
>nor a plural one, but a... I forget the term..., but something whose
>quantity is not normally enumerated as a number of items. Like milk, as
>in "Milk is good to drink." One would not say "A milk is good to drink",
>but neither would you say "Milk are good to drink.".
>
>Of course, I could have further confused matters by using "wine" instead
>of "milk", as I might well refer to "A wine", while I'd never refer to
>"A milk." :-)

I think the term you're looking for is "mass noun" (as opposed to
"count noun"). The Wikipedia article seems like a reasonable summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun

The folks over at alt.usage.english have probably discussed this one
at length on many occasions.

--
| B. L. Massingill
| ObDisclaimer: I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor.
.

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