[Ads-l] "among the data"?

[Jim Parish]

Joel S. Berson wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "among the data"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Something in the following grates, but I'm not sure how to analyze or
> describe it:
>
> " '...' said Swedish [CEO of Anthem], whose personal information was
> among the data accessed in the attack. "
>
> An Associated Press item, AP writer Ricard Alonso-Zaldivar, on the
> NYTimes web site titled "Hackers Access Records for Millions of
> Anthem Customers."
>
> "Among" requires a genuine plural, and doesn't work with a mass noun?
>
> Joel
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Could one say, e.g., "among the Maasai"?

Jim Parish

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