SAT II - grammar question

[SaberKitty]

ok, this saturday i took the SAT II's. the second test i took was math (2c) and at the the beginnign of the test, they have a few survey quetions. It was explaining what it would be used for and it said "all the data were..." and it totally freaked me out.
i know that data is the plural for datum and stuff, but don't you still use the word like it's singular? like salt- "all the salt was..."

am i wrong- was the test correct? but if it is... i guess i didn't as well on the writing section as i thought :-/

-SK

[Pablo]

If you ever studied Latin (which was still offered when I was in school), you'd know that nouns were either masculine (ending in 'us'), feminine (ending in 'a'), or neuter (ending in 'um'). Plurals were made by ending in ae, i, or a, respectively.

Examples:
vertabra, vertabrae
octopus, octopi
datum, data

[extropalopakettle]

Useless Google fact #723: Google lists 213,000 pages that use "data were" and "data was" on the same page

[extropalopakettle]

People rarely use the word "datum" though - I think because it isn't clear exactly what constitutes a single datum.

Also, which is correct:
1) How much data do you have?
2) How many data do you have?

[extropalopakettle]

BTW, the difference between "data" and words like "salt" is that "salt" is a mass noun - it doesn't have a singular form (except when used in a different sense, meaning a kind of salt - as in "a metal combined with chlorine produces a salt, different metals producing different salts").

[Courk]

[the.cynic]

Tecnically, data were is correct.

In the U. S. we tend to use the singular for groupings where as in Europe they tend to use the plural. (In my observation.)
i.e.
We would say Fluster & Blunt is a fine company.
They may say Fluster & Blunt are a fine company .

I think it's a point of view thing.

I once worked for a large corp. and the question was posited as to who or what we were talking about when we refered to The Company. I didn't have a good answer -- except that I wasn't part of Upper Management.

(Proff reading doesn't even worj.)

[This message has been edited by the.cynic (edited 06-09-2003 12:54 PM).]

[extropalopakettle]

So how do you count data? (as in answering "how many data do you have?")

[casinopete]

I would call "datum" archaic. It's never used anymore.

I think "data" has changed into a mass noun, just like "salt." There is no real singular. You describe single bits using another noun, like "grain of salt" or "piece of data."

[extropalopakettle]

I can't even imagine when it was ever used. I can't imagine what constitutes a "datum" (and I was a Comp. Sci. major).

[The Cruciverbalist]

If I'm interpreting the meaning correctly, each of following could be considered a datum:

Multi-Grammy-award-winning recording artist Norah Jones is the daughter of famed sitarist Ravi Shankar.

The typewriter was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes.

The address of fictional comic book character Peter Parker (the secret identity of Spiderman) does in fact exist, and by astounding coincidence, is home to a Parker family.

The secant is the trigonometric ratio between the hypotenuse of a right triangle and an adjacent side.

During the so-called "Cola Wars," Ray Charles did advertisements for both Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola.

[extropalopakettle]

[mathgrant]

Who's Horah Jones?

[Pablo]

Just a guess, 2 Horum Joneses