Chapter 1 Common Grammar Mistakes
17
data, criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomena
Somewhere in the cockles of your brain may lie this rule:
"DATA is a plural noun and always takes a plural verb."
Mrs. B had to dig it out of hers and, as painful as it was, toss it out.
"Data" has become so Anglicized that its singular form, "datum,"
has signed off.
"Data" now takes a SINGULAR verb when it means information
from a single source.
For example:
The data IS an indication the tire company has a problem.
If you're talking about more than one source for the
information, use a plural verb.
In the following example, information came from all the airlines:
Missing luggage data ARE no real surprise.
The singular form of "criteria" is still very much alive.
And "criterion" takes a SINGULAR verb.
v
The main criterion IS how much the audience will care.
"Criteria" takes a PLURAL verb.
v
The criteria for choosing a story DON'T change much.
The same goes for "phenomena" and its singular form,
"phenomenon."
The way Mrs. B hears it most commonly misused is:
It's a "phenomena" the way the news director always walks by
when I'm making a personal phone call.
That should be:
v
It's a PHENOMENON. (And Mrs. B hopes you don't get
caught.)
