Editing 1429: Data

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"Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. [[Cueball]] seems to be looking at results of polling for this ''third'' most popular character.
 
"Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. [[Cueball]] seems to be looking at results of polling for this ''third'' most popular character.
  
The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word ''data'' is a plural form of the word ''datum'' ‘a piece of information’, and that originally English followed Latin's lead and treated ''data'' as plural. However, in more recent English, usage of ''datum'' has faded to the extent that [http://statistics.about.com/od/Glossary/a/What-Is-The-Plural-Of-Data.htm ''data'' is treated as a collective noun]. This usage is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying "data are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario; ''USA Today'', however, is consistently using ''data'' as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of "error" is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while certain traditionalists would hold that the grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data").
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The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word ''data'' is a plural form of the word ''datum'', and that originally English followed Latin's lead and treated ''data'' as plural. However, in more recent English, usage of ''datum'' has faded to the extent that [http://statistics.about.com/od/Glossary/a/What-Is-The-Plural-Of-Data.htm ''data'' is treated as a collective noun]. This usage is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying "data are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario; ''USA Today'', however, is consistently using ''data'' as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of "error" is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while certain traditionalists would hold that the grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data").
  
 
The second error in the same sentence is due to the fact that {{w|Data (Star Trek)|Data}} is a character from ''Star Trek: The Next Generation.'' Since it is a character's name, when used to refer to the character, "Data" should always be treated as singular.
 
The second error in the same sentence is due to the fact that {{w|Data (Star Trek)|Data}} is a character from ''Star Trek: The Next Generation.'' Since it is a character's name, when used to refer to the character, "Data" should always be treated as singular.

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