May 08 2012
STAR’s Monday Question : Is it “Data” or “Datum”?
STAR’s Monday Question : Is it “Data” or “Datum”?
Data comes from Latin. It used to be considered as a collective singular noun. In formal documents for scientific or scholarly writing data is mostly used as a plural and datum is the singular form. When you choose one or the other check that the nouns and verbs tally with the selected form.
Yet, for non-scientific use data is nowadays commonly used as a singular noun. So it is acceptable to write a sentence like: “STAR’s Translation’s data was available on its website”.
Definition
“data n, pl. 1 Facts on which a decision is to be based. 2 Facts to be processed by computer.
datum n. (pl. data) item of data”
Reference: Oxford Quick Reference Dictionary and Thesaurus – Oxford University Press
In addition, here are a few more words whose the plural form don’t ends in -s.
Plural >>>>>>>Singular
Bacteria Bacterium
Dice Die
Formulae Formula
Graffiti Graffito
Candelabra Candelabrum
Data Datum
Media Medium
Opera Opius
Paparazzi Paparazzo
Men Man
Women Woman
