>

What if you have 2 of those guys from Star Trek? 
You wouldn't say "Those two Datas is running amuck!"
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^Delta System Explained ^| ^Deltaboards >

My fourteen points of data are no longer valid. >

!delta
Well, that was easy... I clearly didn't think enough to specify the explicit pluralization from a previous word. >

Data itself is plural. Datum is the singular. 
Is and are both are correct >

But then "datums" are a thing. >

Yes, but datums refers to multiple single pieces of information in isolation and data refers to a collection of information.  Just think of it this way: you cannot have "a data", you can only have "data". >

That makes sense to me. Use latin plural for uncountable data, but the english plural for countable datums. >

Something people don't really consciously notice about English grammar is the concept of "uncountable nouns".
These are nouns like "dirt". It doesn't matter how much dirt there is, it's never "dirts". (Similarly I said "how much" not "how many", and "is" not "are".)
A lot of these are materials, liquids, and particulates, but other examples include things like "advice", or "knowledge".
These are usually things where there's no intuitively descrete unit of singular quantity. What would "a" dirt look like? If you specify units, like "a pile of dirt", suddenly it can take singular and plural forms.
Also, confusingly, some nouns are uncountable in certain contexts. In "My truck is made of metal" and "I took a load of metal to the dump", "metal" is uncountable. However, in "ancient cultures highly valued precious metals", or "steel is a useful metal for industry" it takes a countable form.
All this is to say, I think you should probably be saying data should be considered an "uncountable singular noun", not a singular one.
I think this comes down to whether, as mentioned earlier, you can readily quantify an intuitive singular unit of data. A datum. If it sounds weird to say "the data are clear", then it's probably because it's not obvious what "there are 5 data" means. Not clear what "a datum" even refers to. If that's the case, should English abandon the notion of descrete data?
Edit: note there are also plural uncountable nouns ("the police are comming", never "a police is", or "many thanks". (There's no such thing as one singular "thank".) >

!delta
What a great thorough explanation, thanks! >

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/Cultist_O (25∆).
^Delta System Explained ^| ^Deltaboards >

Data IS plural though. Datum is the singular. 
I agree it sounds awkward but it's technically correct. >

!delta
I understand technically it is plural, similar how "Deer" is plural. However, in colloquial and natural language, it doesn't (for some reason) sound plural the same way "Deer" does. 
I very vividly remember everyone saying "the data IS" and then there was this shift to "are" without explicit pluralization from a previous adjective "points of data". It is just awkward. I think data should be (and I realize I am a lowly redditor, who am I to change the dictionary) the singular for a dataset (or shortform of).
It's. So. Awkward. >

We say, "the deer is brown" when referring to one or more deer?
I think the challenge is that we don't say, "that data is" when referring to a datum. >

"The deer is brown" - there is one brown deer
"The deer are brown" - there are more than one brown deer
I think English changed data from plural to singular groups in colloquial language. ie: data = a dataset, which is composed of a collection of data points. However, there is just one dataset. Not: data = multiple datum.
This is the way I've always heard people refer to data until about 3-4 yrs ago iirc. >


This is the way I've always heard people refer to data until about 3-4 yrs ago iirc.

Is it possible that the perceived change is actually a change in your circumstances?  Like, you started studying in a technical field or something?
​
Because "data" is traditionally plural.  And it is an unambiguously plural noun from the nominative/accusative neuter singular perfect passive participle "data," from the Latin. >

Yea I went into engineering.
I just never heard it in colloquial language or in the news. "The data is in..." "the data says (not say)", etc. etc.
Seems to be everywhere now. >


Seems to be everywhere now. 

I'd say it's partially an observation bias, Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, and partially a push by data science to clear up the pronunciation. And just that society is becoming much more data driven than ever before
By my recollection Sci-fi used "data" everywhere, because it sounds and looks better than "datum". What you describe as a change was always the correct usage if you went by the dictionary
It's also confusing because what is a singular "datum"? Coming from tech, a bit is a "datum". Anything more than a single binary value is therefore "data" >

"Data is" sounds better to me, too.   But, it isn't grammatically correct. >


"Data is" sounds better to me, too. But, it isn't grammatically correct.

It's only grammatically incorrect in Latin, not English. >

So may it be. >

But…the word data has always been plural? Singular is datum, plural is data. “The data is…” is colloquially acceptable but any competent editor would change it to “the data are…” because that’s grammatically correct. Same way people use “media” as a singular but it’s actually the plural of “medium.” 
I think this is one of those things you only noticed recently and it seems incorrect to you because of that. But it’s always been the case and makes complete sense if you understand the etymology of the word. >

If everyone does it "incorrectly" then what's actually happened is language has just changed to the point that what was once incorrect is now correct. >

That would be the case if everyone actually did use it “incorrectly,” but since most people who regularly talk about/deal with data treat it as a plural that argument doesn’t really work here >

Maybe it’s a regional thing or something, but I’m studying computer science and I literally only know one person who says “data are” and they’re a non-native speaker. For everyone else, it’s a mass noun. >

I like to see data as a bulk noun. Like, yes, you can have a single datum in the same way you can have a single grain, but you're not paying for the farm with anything less than a whole silo full of grain, and you're not figuring much out without a whole server full of data. >

It looks like you already have your answer, but there are other scenarios it would be appropriate. For example, Data is the name of a famous Star Trek character, so:
Captain Picard and Data are going shopping later.
...is a valid sentence. >

Technically that's the word "Data" and not the word "data" as specified. Otherwise you could also include Data from the film The Goonies as well. >

the crew of the enterprise are stuck in a low-entropy region of space that makes capitalization and punctuation impossible
worf and data are tasked with destroying the entropyabsorbing device at the center of the system >

There are other examples of the -atum and -ata forms where there doesn't seem to be any confusion between singular and plural. For example, in geology the terms stratum and strata, or dictum and dicta, or desideratum and desiderata. But none of these turn up that often in everyday usage. My guess, regarding data, is that it often turns up in a context where someone might say something like "Look at the data" and hold up a table of numbers. At that point there is a possible ambiguity as to whether "data" refers to all the numbers (plural) or the table itself (singular).
I remember reading a grammar book many years ago where it mentioned that  certain collective nouns can be treated as either singular or plural depending on whether you wanted to stress the collective as a singular unit or a plurality consisting of many members. >

How much data are you going to submit? >

!delta
​
Another phrase I didn't consider. >

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/roidesoeufs (1∆).
^Delta System Explained ^| ^Deltaboards >

I think data can be used in a singular and plural context. It can refer to multiple datums, so is plural in that sense. But you can also say ‘the data’ in a singular context to refer to the information that the data represents. >

When was this changed in the English language? And what authority figure changed it? >

Dumbing down of English to suit the masses. >

Data is plural for datum, from latin. I works similarly to words like curriculum/curricula, equilibrium/equilibria, millenium/millenia.
It's easy to forget because the singular datum isn't used as much.
Fun fact, mostly scientific nouns coming from ancient Greek follow a similar pattern: phenomenon/phenomena, mitochondrion/mitochondria etc. (yes, it should be "mitochondria ARE the powerhouses of the cell") >

the consequences of ignoring corrupt data are :-

your shit gets fucked up
you are mocked 
there is much sadness >

The word "consequences" modifies the sentence, I'm talking about "data" in isolation. 
The sentence: "The consequence of ignoring corrupt data is", the plurality is derived from the noun (?) "consequence" 's plurality. >

yeah someone also made a much better example than i did :P
also.. nobody likes a pedant.. and linguistic prescriptivism is almost always more wrong than it is ever right :) >

Data is plural form of datum. >

It is also an uncountable noun, therefore treated as singular >

No, I can have two data. >

it's both
I just think the plural verbage "data are" or "these data" is artificial and unnatural language. The singular is also more popular. >

OP, you're getting a lot of wrong answers that you are awarding these delta-thingies to. The only correct one is the point about "X points of data" where you indeed use "are" because in this case, "points" becomes the main noun that the verb attaches to. Please see my other comment, and read up on uncountable nouns. Other examples are money and furniture. 
It is not correct to say something like "the data are showing us that...", Like some other people in here argue for.
Edit: It's a bit more complicated than the above, and for "data" specifically, it's somewhat contested. I'd still argue that no one uses "datum", and the above still applies, but keep in mind that it's not definitively "the" correct answer. >

Former English teacher here. Non-countable nouns should be treated as singular. Ex: water ‘is’ cold. If you add a qualifier it’s different. Ex: the  glasses of water ‘are’ cold.  Data is a non-countable noun so you are correct that it should be ‘is’… unless there is a qualifier. >

I think if data was plural it would make sense but since it's typically singular "is" makes more sense >

Let's work together to also banish "...HER and I...".  As in "Her and I went to the mall..."  Drives me INSANE.  I learned it as "You should be able to say "She went to the mall" and "I went to the mall", but put together, it's "She and I went to the mall".  Simple. >

I'll make the signs you make the t-shirts >

Her and I will make the t-shirts as soon as all of the datas are in on what sizes are the most popular, etc. >

How dare you... I thought we were friends
...as soon as all the data is in...
I don't think "datas" is a word >

Her and I have agreed that "datas" is now the plural of "data".  i.e. "dog / dogs" and "orange / oranges".  It may take a while to grow on you. >

Call me the Sahara cause nothing is growing on me >

what is datum >

What problem do you see here with treating "data" as a plural rather than a collective singular? Why not simply allow both as differences of dialect? >

These 3 sets of data are all pointing to… >

I addressed this in the edit to my OP.
This could be rewritten as "These three datasets are..."
The explocit pluralization via the noun/adjective/modifier (not exactly sure what word type "sets" is in this case) was not was I meant to refer to and corrected in the edit. 
I agree that in this case, the "are" is correct and sounds perfectly natural due to the explicit pluralization via the "sets." >

All data are sorted into sets >

I would say: "All data is sorted into sets."
However, being more specific, I would then say: "All data points are sorted into sets."
I consider data by itself more of a reference to a dataset instead of multiple datum.
There is an example on Google from Oxford Languages that says "there is very little data available" instead of "there are very little data available" that I just found. >

Data is a plural word. The singular is datum.
"Is" should never come after "data." >


Data is a plural word. The singular is datum.
"Is" should never come after "data."

It's also an uncountable noun. It's borrowed from a Latin plural noun, sure, but loanwords don't have to follow the grammatical rules of their source languages. Just look at "tamale" and "chupacabra" for other examples. >

You know there are count nouns and bass nouns right? >

Nope :/ >


To me, data (referring to or a set of datums: a dataset) is a singular noun.

You're writing it yourself here. Data is the plural of datum, not datums. >

So you do not believe the plural of “datum” can ever be “data”? Because every dictionary will give that as an acceptable plural. >

Totally correct >

Kind of like I see, I saw, I have seen. People drive me nuts regularly with these words. lol >

People with minds for data are useful. >

Minds is taking on the plural, not data in isolation.
This was addressed in the edit. >

Data are cool. >

Data is cool >

Data are is cool >

Is cool data are >

Are data cool? >

Cool is data >

Data is cool! >

YAAAAY!!!! >

"Geordi and Data are beaming down to the planet." >

Data is a plural of the noun Datum, isn't it ? >


Data is a plural of the noun Datum, isn't it ?

It can be, but it's also an uncountable noun. >

"I found the data, are you going to pay me ?"
"Our sources of data are protected from criminal prosecution" >

I happen to agree with you and also think "the data are" sounds weird and wrong. But yeah, we are incorrect in this way, because actually "data" is a plural noun. Its singular form is "datum"—but right now we are essentially in the middle of a socio-linguistic shift where the word "data" is slowly becoming one of those odd words that can function as both singular and plural.
In modern English, there are certain words of Latin origin that end in -um in the singular, and some of those words retain the -a ending in the plural, while others no longer do. >

The problem here isn't using are after data, it's been already said that data is the plural of datum. But when people say something like 'The data is conclusive' they actually mean to say 'We were able to conclude X from our dataset'. And dataset or a set of data is singular again, but that (I guess) has been shortened to data for I guess convenience? >

I think I agree with you. Others have pointed out that the word is plural but the word being plural or singular is not the determining factor. Based on most context we mean a collection of information when we refer to data.
We say "the group is here" or instead of "the group are here". Data on its own is a collection of information when understood by people. So it's a singular collection of information which is why it should work this way. >

Wdym? Data is plural as far as I remember, and are comes after are >

Should according to what criteria and why should anyone but you care what those criteria say? English won’t be the same in 100 years in much the same way it’s different than it was 100 years ago. Deal with it. >

data is a plural noun therefore both are correct same with police are/is both are correct, it would probably be more correct to use are since it is a plural noun >

This is so basic. Data = plural. Datum = singular. Making up rules because you feel the use is better colloquially is not the way. >

Data is the plural of data.