• 3-minute read
• 18th June 2016

The Great ‘Data’ Debate: Singular or Plural?

While there can only ever be one Brent Spiner, there are two ways we use the word ‘data’. The debate over whether it should be singular or plural thus continues. In fact, scientists currently predict that pedants will be arguing about this long after the heat death of the universe itself.

Moreover, as with most debates regarding how a word should be used, there is no simple answer. To determine whether or not ‘data’ is singular or plural, you must consider context.

Datum and Data

We’ll start with the idea that ‘data’ is always plural, since this used to be the case. This sense of ‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’, meaning ‘a single piece of information’.

As such, if referring both to an individual fact and a larger body of evidence to which it belongs, we could say:

Although this datum is of little worth by itself, collectively the data are very convincing.

The important thing here is subject-verb agreement: when ‘data’ is treated as the plural of ‘datum’, it should be followed by a plural verb (e.g. ‘are’) rather than a singular verb (e.g. ‘is’).

Of course, this is not always how ‘data’ is used. If it was, this blog post would be much shorter.

A Mass of Data

English has changed a lot over time and ‘data’ is a great example, since it is now more commonly used as a singular mass noun (like ‘sand’ or ‘water’) than a plural.

As such, the singular ‘data’ can be used to refer to a mass of evidence, rather than singular facts:

After collating responses from hundreds of surveys, the data is now conclusive.

This sense of ‘data’ is close to a synonym for ‘information’, another mass noun used to refer to large amounts of evidence or collections of facts.

‘Data is’? Or ‘Data are’?

So can we use ‘data’ as either singular or plural without having to worry about it? Not quite, since there are still formal conventions about how ‘data’ should be used in some settings.

In academic, technical and formal writing, the distinction between ‘datum’ (singular) and ‘data’ (plural) is still common. It is therefore advisable to use ‘data’ with plural verbs in these contexts (e.g. ‘data are’, not ‘data is’).

However, this isn’t necessarily the case in fields related to information technology, where the mass noun ‘data’ is frequently used to describe information processed by computers.

Meanwhile, in daily life, using ‘data’ as a plural is considered overly formal. Thus, in non-academic settings, saying ‘data is’ would be more conventional than ‘data are’.

This all makes it very important to check your university’s style guide before setting to work on an essay, as they may have specific requirements regarding how the word ‘data’ is used.