You are correct - it is that plural in Latin. But we speak English and we import words from all over the place without having to adopt how that word was used in the base language. Does anyone go into Yoda speak as well when they use data in a sentence? Data they are... Why not? - if you (ubiquitous) want to use Latin words, use Latin grammatical constructs around them - go the whole hog (what does that actually mean?)!
The rule for using is or are with collective nouns is whether the word is a unified whole or a collection of individuals who do not necessarily act as one.
The committee is united in deciding ... The committee are divided ...
It does not always work and there is blurring at the edges. Also American usage can differ from ours. We would probably say ‘The hotel staff were helpful’ but Americans would more likely say ‘was helpful’.
As for data, I consider it to be a complete set therefore taking a singular verb rather than a plural one.
On the matter of the formulation of the plural, Latin words ending ...us become ...i (alumnus/alumni, cactus/cacti), ending ...a become ...ae (alumna/alumnae, larva/larvae), and ...um becomes ...a (datum/data).
With Greek the rules sometimes change so the plural of octopus is not octopi but octopodes but who would be so pretentious as to say that? Increasingly we use the standard -s or -es plural for words of Latin and Greek origin (Who would say ‘Come into the conservatory to see my sedi’. What an enticement!)
And referring to other points, is super really used as an adverb these days? I have not come across that but I do not doubt it and feel it is a horror that awaits. Federer will super serve his way to the final. It’s just awful. Super as an intensifier is a curse of modern times. The whole hog is simply what it says, from nose to tail, the whole thing, completely. I am also left wondering what the herd is laying down in the field. Tablecloths and blankets for a picnic, perhaps? 😉
On the plural theme...hearing 'math' rather than 'maths' really gets up my goat (I did that to annoy others). Surely maths is the contraction of mathematics as autos is the contraction of automobiles. The plural 's' stays.
But is it rooves or roofs, hice (posh pronunciation) or houses.. maybe we never went the hice route as posh people wouldn't know the difference between the singular or plural. I just love English.
At least I suppose that is somewhat better ( healthier ) than the fast food outlet staff who are trained to say "....and do you want fries with that ? " Actually, given the state of what passes for Toms these days, it's probably just the colour combination ( white, yellow, red ) which Greg's are keen on Whatever happened to the basic Wimpy Bar - if anyone can even remember them ! And that's another "word" - fries - when did chips go out of fashion ?
Americans call “crisps” potato chips, so they needed a different name for chips ! I believe that chips (as we know them) were invented by the Belgians, so perhaps whoever coined the name french fries didn’t have a grasp of European geography ?
My employers took on an expensive “consultant” to support us with a big business change. She loved to use the word criteria and after a while she also dropped criterion into her sessions. She always used them the wrong way round, drove me mad.
The problem is mathematics is not a plural. The s on the end is an identifier separating the adjective mathematic from the noun mathematics. The same thing happens with genetic/genetics, politic/politics etc. The American usage of math has logic to it because, should you be studying history and politics at A level would anyone abbreviate it to hist and pols? OK, I know those words are extremely unlikely to be abbreviated but you get my point. By the way, is Stephen Fry a polymath or a polymaths?
Who wants to have a stab at why the British watch sport but the American watch sports?
I spend a few weeks on holiday in the US most years. As soon as I get there I use their vocabulary, to ensure I’m understood. It always surprises me how it happens, the words just pop out of my mouth without thinking. Makes me 😃
That’s interesting, @ERICS MUM. I sometimes wonder if Americans really are dumbfounded by our usage of words like car boot, pavement, bedside table etc or they have the acuity to translate them into trunk, sidewalk and night stand. On the Trip Advisor forum I frequently read UK responses to Americans’ questions and the American terminology like stick shift is used. I wonder if the answer is assuming the poster is too dumb to understand manual gear stick or, more likely, respondents are showing off their knowledge of American English.
Posts
The committee is united in deciding ...
The committee are divided ...
It does not always work and there is blurring at the edges. Also American usage can differ from ours. We would probably say ‘The hotel staff were helpful’ but Americans would more likely say ‘was helpful’.
As for data, I consider it to be a complete set therefore taking a singular verb rather than a plural one.
On the matter of the formulation of the plural, Latin words ending ...us become ...i (alumnus/alumni, cactus/cacti), ending ...a become ...ae (alumna/alumnae, larva/larvae), and ...um becomes ...a (datum/data).
With Greek the rules sometimes change so the plural of octopus is not octopi but octopodes but who would be so pretentious as to say that? Increasingly we use the standard -s or -es plural for words of Latin and Greek origin (Who would say ‘Come into the conservatory to see my sedi’. What an enticement!)
And referring to other points, is super really used as an adverb these days? I have not come across that but I do not doubt it and feel it is a horror that awaits. Federer will super serve his way to the final. It’s just awful. Super as an intensifier is a curse of modern times. The whole hog is simply what it says, from nose to tail, the whole thing, completely. I am also left wondering what the herd is laying down in the field. Tablecloths and blankets for a picnic, perhaps? 😉
The problem is mathematics is not a plural. The s on the end is an identifier separating the adjective mathematic from the noun mathematics. The same thing happens with genetic/genetics, politic/politics etc. The American usage of math has logic to it because, should you be studying history and politics at A level would anyone abbreviate it to hist and pols? OK, I know those words are extremely unlikely to be abbreviated but you get my point. By the way, is Stephen Fry a polymath or a polymaths?
Who wants to have a stab at why the British watch sport but the American watch sports?