Are or Is?

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Which is correct- 'flow data ARE ' or 'flow data IS'
The sentence is talking about more than one set of data but just not sure if using the plural 'are' works?
Advice please,
Thanks

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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 602 • Replies: 12

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In both British and US English a tiny number of old fashioned purists will tell you that datum is the singular and data is the plural, everyone else will use 'flow data is'.

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@Lucylocket26,

Lucylocket26 wrote:

Which is correct- 'flow data ARE ' or 'flow data IS'
The sentence is talking about more than one set of data but just not sure if using the plural 'are' works?
Advice please,
Thanks

“Datum” is so rare in English that people may assume “data” has no singular form. Many American usage communities, however, use “data” as a singular and some have even gone so far as to invent “datums” as a new plural."

I've rarely seen the word" datums"used and for your case, and your question, I suspect that either IS or ARE could be used. However, I'd have to see the above statement within the context of the rest of the paper to find out precisely if singular or plural should be used.

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@Lucylocket26,

Some people use data are...some data is. "Data are" sounds pretentious to me, but I understand it is correct.

Media, opera, forum are words that have similar problems.

Use whichever feels more comfortable...and don't think twice about it.

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@Lucylocket26,

I prefer "is" in this sentence.

1 Reply

@Lucylocket26,

Lucylocket26 wrote:

Which is correct- 'flow data ARE ' or 'flow data IS'
The sentence is talking about more than one set of data but just not sure if using the plural 'are' works?
Advice please,
Thanks

The correct answer is data ARE
because data is a plural word and if you say "is"
then you will appear IGNORANT and be judged accordingly.
You will lose face.

David

2 Replies

@Lucylocket26,

A single item of information is either a datum or a fact.

David

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

Frank and David are both correct, because 'data' is plural.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Lucylocket26 wrote:

Which is correct- 'flow data ARE ' or 'flow data IS'
The sentence is talking about more than one set of data but just not sure if using the plural 'are' works?
Advice please,
Thanks

The correct answer is data ARE
because data is a plural word and if you say "is"
then you will appear IGNORANT and be judged accordingly.
You will lose face.

David

Would you also say, "The opera are good?"

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Lucylocket26 wrote:

Which is correct- 'flow data ARE ' or 'flow data IS'
The sentence is talking about more than one set of data but just not sure if using the plural 'are' works?
Advice please,
Thanks

The correct answer is data ARE
because data is a plural word and if you say "is"
then you will appear IGNORANT and be judged accordingly.
You will lose face.

David

Frank Apisa wrote:

Would you also say, "The opera are good?"

No, because until now,
I had not been cognizant of its being a plural word.
My Latin is less than fluent. Thanks for the tip.

0 Replies

Thank you all for your comments and opinions.

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@cicerone imposter,

I agree with you! Are just sounds wrong!

1 Reply

@Lucylocket26,

Lucylocket26 wrote:

I agree with you! Are just sounds wrong!

That 's because it is not an English word.
Its Latin, used in an English sentence.

David

0 Replies

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