Data
Facts, statistics, and the like.
In medicine and the health sciences, people often speak of 'the data' erroneously in the singular.
'Data' is a plural noun and takes a plural verb, as in 'the data are very convincing.' It comes from the Latin 'datum', meaning 'a thing given.' For the Romans<BR>data were surely plural<BR>but we fear that,<BR>for lack of Latinists,<BR>data now is often<BR>sadly singular.