⚡ Quick summary
The word data can be either singular or plural depending on meaning and context. In general usage, data is treated as singular when used as a mass noun to mean “information” and as plural when used to mean “individual facts.” In scientific and academic writing, data is almost always used as a plural noun. In digital technology, data is usually treated as a singular mass noun to mean “digitally stored information.”
The word data often causes problems when it comes to subject-verb agreement. Is it a singular or plural noun? Is it correct to say data is or data are? Are they both correct?
In this article, we will define the word data, explain how meaning and context can affect whether it is a singular or plural noun, and provide examples of how we typically use data in sentences.
data is vs. data are
The word data is a plural form of the Latin word datum, meaning “something given.” The singular English word datum, meaning “a single piece of information,” is rarely used in any form of writing. However, data is a commonly used word in many different types of writing. Whether data is a singular or plural word will often depend on how you are using it and what type of writing you are using it in.
In general usage, data is treated as both a singular and a plural word. When data is used as a mass noun (a noun that can’t be counted, like sand) to mean “information,” it typically uses a singular verb.
For example:
- Polling data is harder to come by in the rural areas of the country.
- Medical data shows that the disease is more common in warmer climates.
When data is used as a count noun (a noun that can be counted, like car) to mean “facts” or “pieces of information,” it is typically used with a plural verb.
For example:
- The experimental data are recorded on the chart in the book’s index.
- These data show a connection between community size and survival chance of offspring.
In the context of computers and digital technology, data is usually treated as a singular mass noun to refer to digitally stored information.
For example:
- User data is gathered by many different social media companies.
- All of the data on the hard drive was corrupted by a computer virus.
In academic and scientific writing, the word data is almost always treated as a plural word, as in The data collected by the research team suggest that the water supply has been contaminated. Outside of scientific or academic writing, you will need to consult your preferred grammar resource or style guide to determine whether data should be treated as a singular or plural word, as style guides often have different rules on how to use the word data.
Learn about the difference between countable and uncountable nouns.
Examples of data is and data are in a sentence
Let’s look at some examples of how we would use the word data in different contexts. Keep in mind that it is always best to consult your grammar resource or style guide.
- More financial data is being requested from the company by the IRS.
- My gathered data are being reviewed by other experts in the field of biology.
- We think that more survey data is needed before we can say that the new mascot is more popular than the old one.
- Those data are in agreement with all of the other experiments that have been performed on Pacific Rim volcanoes.
- The player data is stored on the video game company’s servers.
