When referring to collected information, especially in electronic form, data is increasingly treated as a singular noun, since a unified concept is often intended• • The data is entered from the forms by a keyboarder.

When the composite nature of the information is important, the plural is often used• • As more data accumulate, it may turn out that there are differences • The data were easily converted into numerical form. However, in these examples the singular is also possible • As more data accumulates... • The data was easily converted...