[Ads-l] "information" as a plural

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 23 17:19:49 UTC 2021


Statistically it may no longer be an "error." I've been watching this for
years, and it's now so common that the logically correct form now seems to
me to be far less frequent, at least in speech.

I see it more and more in edited writing as well.

JL



On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 1:12 PM Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, I can see how the error happened, but it's still an error.  Unless
> we're seeing an actual shift.  It wouldn't be the first time there's been
> one in this sort of term.  E.g. "data", a plural, has become frequently
> used in the singular, while "datum" recedes into obscurity.
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 10:05 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Trendily agrees with "allies," the nearest preceding noun. "Team and"
> > doesn't hurt either.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 12:45 PM Stanton McCandlish <
> smccandlish at gmail.com
> > >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > From today's *WashPost*: "We’ve learned the extent to which Trump’s
> > > insistences about the election having been stolen were predicated on
> > > information that his team and his allies knew were unfounded."
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/somehow-were-still-learning-depths-trumps-dishonesty/
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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