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I'm composing a University Policy on the security of sensitive data,
and am having a 'discussion' with my colleagues about whether 'data'
should take singular or plural agreement. I'm generally in favor of
keeping it (as it is in my speech) a mass noun, and a few instances
look really weird with plural agreement, but my colleagues (and perhaps
the Provost and President) are likely to need some persuasion. Is
there a nice website dealing with issues such as this? I tried
googling around yesterday and didn't find much. Any suggestions would
be greatly appreciated. Occasionally the two halves of my life come
together.<br>
<br>
Geoff<br>
<br>
PS: Making 'data' plural would require the following wording, for
example:<br>
<p class="DEFAULTS" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span
class="COUNTER2"><span style=""><span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span>i.<span
style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="COUNTER2">The committee
will review
all that is known about the data breach, including how the data was
accessed,
how <b>many</b> data <b>were</b> exposed, what type of data <b>they
were</b>, whether the data <b>were</b>
encrypted and the strength of the encryption, and the likelihood that
the data <b>have</b> fallen into hands that present a risk to the
university or the individuals
whose data <b>were</b> compromised<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Geoffrey S. Nathan <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:geoffnathan@wayne.edu"><geoffnathan@wayne.edu></a>
Faculty Liaison, Computing and Information Technology,
and Associate Professor of English, Linguistics Program
Phone Numbers (313) 577-1259 or (313) 577-8621
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202 </pre>
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