The Nordic model, often touted as a paragon of progressive social policies, has long been the envy of many nations. Finland, in particular, has been praised for its generous parental support programs, designed to encourage and facilitate family growth. Yet, despite these well-intentioned efforts, the country has witnessed a startling decline in its birthrate, plummeting by nearly a third since 2010.
The phrase is “The data tells a different story”
Data itself is a singular as it’s a defined entity. It is the sun of its parts.
If it said “data points”, then you would be right.
It’s clearly plural, in form and meaning. That’s my point. If it were singular it’d be ‘datum’. It has a second-declension plural ending.
This also bothers me. Why say ‘data point’ instead of ‘datum’? Illiterate bloody philistines.
https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/
Seems like “data tells” is fine according to this.
They’re referring to data as a single unified whole.
Family is singular despite being made of multiple members. Data is singular despite being composed of multiple data points.
That makes as much sense as “Countries says the story is different. I’m referring to countries as a single unified whole”