It's not really a question of data singular/plural, more of data countable or uncountable. For a better estimation of multiple users' data needs, please enter the average usage of the group’s members in each of the fields below. Check out our tablet plans. There are a couple of problems with the “data is the plural of datum” story. An easy way to tell these two types of nouns apart is to ask yourself how many or how much.

Never say many data. By 2020, there will be 40x more bytes of data than there are stars in the observable universe. It also wins on a Google Scholar search by a margin of 10 to 1 (2120 to 198). Select how frequently you use data for each activity below and we’ll estimate how much data you need for your monthly plan. Under the donut graph, you can click Usage details to see how much data each app is using. I was reminded again the other day that the word “data” is plural, since it means more than one “datum”, and thus “data” requires a plural verb. BNC - British National Corpus |You can say "much data" if you use it in the right way. If it makes sense to ask how many there are of a noun, as in how many cars or how many people, then it's a count noun. First, it is not quite right even in Latin to say that “data” is the plural of the singular count noun “datum”; both are conjugations of the verb The bigger problem, from my perspective, is that fully adhering to “data” as a plural count noun forces you into constructions likeThe first of these “How many data are…” is correct for a plural count noun, while the second, “How much data is…” is appropriate for a mass noun such as “gold” or “water.” The second sentence sounds much better to me. While everybody agrees that good, clean data is a must have, many organizations do little to nothing to remedy their data misalignment. Maybe, maybe not.

The BNC, COCA and COHA have no instances of "too many data". (These have been discussed widely on the web, and I’m drawing freely on those discussions).

To my surprise they have very few of "too much data" - single figures. I shall have a read through those articles and then get back to you.It's not really a question of data singular/plural, more of data countable or uncountable. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The End of story, right? With the Canada & U.S. Flexi-Data Plan you get 500 MB for $45/month and the plan automatically adjusts upwards based on your data usage. You must log in or register to reply here. If, however, it makes more sense to ask how much there is of a noun, as in how much butter or how much rain, then it's a mass noun.†

I agree. I think "too much data" makes more sense, if you mean very large amounts of data. I would certainly prefer the latter, but at least on this side of the Atlantic it looks like it will be both. JavaScript is disabled. There are also about 400 hits for “How much data are…”, no doubt from those who want to treat “data” as a mass noun but have been reminded that “data is plural.” It seems to me that data has come to be like the mass nouns described in this post from Language Log : Heads-up! There are also about 400 hits for “How much data are…”, no doubt from those who want to treat “data” as a mass noun but have been reminded that “data is plural.” It seems to me that data has come to be like the mass nouns described in this post from I kind of like the idea of data as a collection of small things that aren’t that important to us as individual objects but that are meaningful when taken together.So, in the end, is “data” a plural count noun or a mass noun? Update: Thanks dn88, I think you responded a split second before me.

See how much data gets added to the mix each and every day. Any extra data over 5 GB is charged at 25¢/MB. You get 1 GB for $60/month, 2 GB for $95/month, 3 GB for $130/month or 5GB for $190/month.

It certainly sounds right, but I'm trying to figure out why. Here are some usage notes to ponder:Copyright © 2020 The President and Fellows of Harvard College I don't believe I have ever heard "too many data", only "too much data". That is not right. You'll see both native Windows 10 apps and desktop apps, … Too much data, or a lot of data, are both right.