Re:The Periodic Table of Data Structures [pdf]
by dahart on Sunday October 28, 2018 @12:14AM
(#18319153)
Whether it’s correct or not, it’s not a great sentence, and would benefit from a rewrite.
Language is weird sometimes, so I’m not certain, but your argument seems circular and incorrect. Use of ‘is’ doesn’t cause ‘data structures’ to be singular a collective noun. The noun is plural, so the correct verb is ‘are’. The sentence would need to name the singular collective in order to use ‘is’. For example: “A set of data structures is how we store and access data.” That would be correct. Arguing that “Hard disks is how we store and access data” is correct and that “hard disks” is a singular collective noun, because the sentence used ‘is’, is not normally accepted grammar.
Language is weird sometimes, so I’m not certain, but your argument seems circular and incorrect. Use of ‘is’ doesn’t cause ‘data structures’ to be singular a collective noun. The noun is plural, so the correct verb is ‘are’. The sentence would need to name the singular collective in order to use ‘is’. For example: “A set of data structures is how we store and access data.” That would be correct. Arguing that “Hard disks is how we store and access data” is correct and that “hard disks” is a singular collective noun, because the sentence used ‘is’, is not normally accepted grammar.