[FFmpeg-cvslog] r17077 - trunk/libavformat/sdp.c

[Diego Biurrun]

On Mon, Feb 09, 2009 at 09:37:40AM +0100, Luca Abeni wrote:
> Diego Biurrun wrote:
> > On Mon, Feb 09, 2009 at 08:04:20AM +0100, Luca Abeni wrote:
> >> diego wrote:
> >> [...]
> >>>      if (c->extradata_size > MAX_EXTRADATA_SIZE) {
> >>> -        av_log(c, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Too many extra data!\n");
> >>> +        av_log(c, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Too much extradata!\n");
> >> Sorry, but isn't "data" supposed to be plural?
> > 
> > The word data has no plural, same as information.
> 
> So, English is really a funny language... ;-)
> I've been told by native speakers that "data" is plural, and
> is the plural of "datum" (and I've been corrected for writing
> "data is", because - according to such native speakers - the
> correct form is "data are")

This is what the Merriam-Webster says:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data

  Data leads a life of its own quite independent of datum, of which
  it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a
  plural noun (like earnings), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers
  (as these, many, a few) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a
  referent for plural pronouns; and as an abstract mass noun (like
  information), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (as this,
  much, little), and being referred to by a singular pronoun. Both
  constructions are standard. The plural construction is more common in
  print, perhaps because the house style of some publishers mandates it.

In any case it is not a countable quantity, so "much" instead of "many".

Diego