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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Are DATA and CRITERIA unique?
Hi,
English speakers say/write
"This data indicates that..."
"This criteria allows us to figure out ..."
that is, "data" is used as if it was "datum",
"criteria" is used as though it were "criterion"...
What other Latin/Greek words follow suit ( = their plural forms have fully eclipsed their singular counterparts in modern English)?
Hope this question makes sense....
mus-te
English speakers say/write
"This data indicates that..."
"This criteria allows us to figure out ..."
that is, "data" is used as if it was "datum",
"criteria" is used as though it were "criterion"...
What other Latin/Greek words follow suit ( = their plural forms have fully eclipsed their singular counterparts in modern English)?
Hope this question makes sense....
mus-te
Top answer
" I treat 'data' as singular, but I still distinguish between 'criterion' (s) and 'criteria (p), and between 'phenomenon' (s) and 'phenomena' (p), though others don't always. Though I hardly ever use the words, I would also be inclined to use the -on and -a endings for automaton - automata , but I suspect automatons is the more usual plural there. , tetrahedron - tetrahedra .
- " I treat 'data' as singular, but I still distinguish between 'criterion' (s) and 'criteria (p), and between 'phenomenon' (s) and 'phenomena' (p), though others don't always.
- Though I hardly ever use the words, I would also be inclined to use the -on and -a endings for automaton - automata , but I suspect automatons is the more usual plural there.
- , tetrahedron - tetrahedra .
- In the Latin category with -um , I've seen these (and would probably use them): addendum - addenda curriculum - curricula maximum - maxima (in mathematics) minimum - minima (in mathematics) quantum - quanta (in physics) spectrum - spectra (in physics) MUSCOVITE What other Latin/Greek words follow suit Only the ones mentioned above come to mind at this time.
- CJ
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1 Answers
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MUSCOVITEEnglish speakers say/write"This data indicates that...""This criteria allows us to figure out ..."I treat 'data' as singular, but I still distinguish between 'criterion' (s) and 'criteria (p), and between 'phenomenon' (s) and 'phenomena' (p), though others don't always. Though I hardly ever use the words, I would also be inclined to use the -on
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