[Ads-l] "information" as a plural

[Jonathan Lighter]

Chloe Melas, entertainment reporter, CNN, just now:

"There have been a whirlwind of petitions filed since."

I wonder alternatively if people are hypercorrecting the dreaded "There is."

However, "petitions," not whirlwind, is salient.

JL

On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 4:41 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Quorum.com:
>
> "There are scarring on my lungs."
>
> Plural "lungs" is the noun that gets the most emphasis, vocally and
> topically.
>
> Though Swedish, the writer is fluent in English. He also writes, "while
> factors like age, obesity, and preexisting conditions do affect those
> chances of death or complications, your 'strong immune system' is actually
> not a factor of getting infected."  (OK, so he uses "of" instead of "in.")
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 5:08 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> >
>> >
>> I'm familiar with "the data is", which certainly isn't plural, but I'm
>> pretty sure I haven't encountered a plural "datas". So I think the
>> singular
>> "data" is really a mass noun, like "information" (in traditional usage),
>> "evidence", "music", "money", "progress", and many others.
>>
>> Mark Mandel
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 1:13 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.
>> > >
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
>


-- 
"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