data- datum

[ana]

datum- eto singular, a data-plural,pravilno?
No v slovare "Oxford quick reference dictionary" (1998) napisano:
"data- n.pl -also treated as singular", da i nekotoryh nay4nyh zhurnalah vstre4ala :"data is..."
Tak kak verno? spasibo

[Adil]

Это US объяснение:
"Data leads a life of its own quite independent of datum, of which it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a plural noun (like earnings), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers (as these, many, a few) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a referent for plural pronouns (as they, them); and as an abstract mass noun (like information), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (as this, much, little), and being referred to by a singular pronoun (it). Both constructions are standard. The plural construction is more common in print, evidently because the house style of several publishers mandates it."
Мне лично больше нравится PLURAL (data are). Успехов!

[V]

Actually only the most literate of English speakers, plus of course the distinguished Obiter Dictum, know that there exists the singular form of "datum".
So, at least Americans say "these data".
Having said that, ya na zare tumannoy yunosti perevodil Americantsam, nu i kakomu-to generalu pereviol nashego generala, skazavshego "...a vot v predposlednem absatze nado by ABC zamenit' na XYZ" - nu ya i perevel " ...in the penultimate para".
Na shto Am. Gen. ryknul "I don't speak Latin!".
Okazyvaetsia, na EGO yazyke eto budet " the last but one..." :-))

[NoName]

DATA/DATUM

There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms
ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. See, for
instance, "criteria" and "media." "Datum" is so rare now 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. This is a case where you
need to know the patterns of your context. An engineer or scientist used
to writing "the data is" may well find that the editors of a journal or
publishing house insist on changing this phrase to "the data are." Usage
is so evenly split in this case that there is no automatic way of
determining which is right; but writers addressing an international
audience of nonspecialists would probably be safer treating "data" as
plural.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/

[V]

I also bet very few English speakers know that the plural of "octopus" is "octopodes".
You gotta be William Safire to excel in this...

[alalexxx]

na latini po moemu DATUM singular....

[O]

Мн.ч. от octopus = octopuses or octopi.
octopods (octopoda) — мн.ч. от octopod.

[Есенжан]

Даа, помню я не знал как перевести *addenda* (в Лингво 8м его до сих пор нет). А недавно столкнулся с *memoranda*.
А вообще да, в греческом сущ. ж.р. во мн. ч. окончивались на альфу (насколько я помню). Например Библия - недаром она(и) называется Священные Писания.

[V]

2 O
Vopros davno obsuzhdalsia by some distinguished English language scholars.
"Octopuses" il "octopi", konechno, ochen' naprashivaetsia.
Zhal' tol'ko nepravil'no. :-))
Na yazyke "originala" bylo by "octopodes". Toko, konechno, po-angl. tak nikto ne govorit.
Eto obsuzhdalos' prosto v poriadke kurieza.
Never mind, don't take it seriously ;-))))

2 Esenzhan - surely "addendum" is Latin, not Greek

[O]

Distinguished English language have long ago decided that the correct *English* plural for 'octopus' is 'octopuses'. English is not the same as Greek, you know.

'Octopi' was just another form from the dictionaries.

[alalexxx]

But the old form is still used for 'alumnus' (sing) - 'alumni' (pl) for example...