[tlhIngan Hol] is De' "data, information" countable ?
SuStel
sustel at trimboli.name
Fri Jul 10 08:20:54 PDT 2020
On 7/10/2020 11:08 AM, Lieven L. Litaer wrote:
> Am 10.07.2020 um 16:09 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
>> True ! In fact, the reason I've wondered about all this in the first
>> place, is because in greek the word "information" is countable, and it
>> would sound wrong to say "we obtained valuable information (singular)".
>
> That's very interesting, because in German it's quite normal to say
> "I've got one important information (singular) here for you." but also
> "This book contains many informations (plural)"
In English, the word /data/ occupies a strange place as far as plurals
go. It's a relatively late entry from Latin, where /data/ is the plural
of /datum./ In English, /datum/ has largely fallen out of use, with
/data/ taking over both singular and plural, but some people still
prefer to use /datum/ for singular, especially in certain scientific and
technical areas. English plural /data/ can be used both countable and
uncountably, although circumstances you can use the countable version
are limited. You can say /these data,/ but you cannot say /four data./
/These data/ (countable) and /this data/ (uncountable) are
interchangeable, though the countable version is also falling out of
use, but less so than the word /datum/ has.
In English, the word /information/ is strictly uncountable and has no
plural. /This book contains much information./ (/Many/ signals a
countable noun, /much/ an uncountable noun.)
--
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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