Criteria

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Michelle Diekelman calling from Oceanside, California.

Well, hello, Michelle. Welcome to the program.

Hi, Michelle.

What can we do for you?

Well, I’m a high school teacher here in Oceanside, and we were having a debate sort of by email among the faculty about the use of criteria as a plural noun and also as a singular noun.

So my brief question is, is it correct to use criteria as a plural noun? And is it correct to use criteria as a singular noun?

Wow. And you teach what there?

I’m actually the French teacher here.

Okay. You teach French.

And somebody is trying to tell you that criteria is a singular word?

Yes.

What do your discussions look like? Is the email system melting down?

No, it really wasn’t that much. Unfortunately, not everybody engages in these language debates, but I would like language and talk about language.

And this was an English teacher. And we had sent out a note, all the teachers in this high school teach two vocabulary words a week at the same time during the same, at the same day.

And the special word, the focus word that week was criteria. And so when we sent out the information about criteria, then she replied that criteria is incorrectly used as a plural, which I think that’s not right.

But that it may also be, it is accepted as a singular. So she sent that on the email, and then people kind of had discussions about it in their own departments, I think.

Oh, my. So we have the French against the English once again. Is that right?

That’s true. That’s true.

And this person isn’t in a position where she can fire you or anything, right?

No. I think I’m safe on that. I think I’m safe.

Okay. And so your position is that it’s okay for criteria to be a singular?

Well, here’s my position. My position is if people use it as a singular, because I’m sure people do, then I’m okay with that.

I also want to basically have it both ways. I want people to be able to use it as a singular, but I also want it to be correctly used as a plural.

So I’m not going to judge people if they’re going to use it as a singular, but I do prefer that we acknowledge there’s a correct use.

So you’re looking for a particular criterion then.

That’s true.

And is that… What would be the criterion for this?

-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t guess they teach Greek there, right?

No.

Okay, because if they did, then the answer would be flashing in great big neon letters. Criterion is singular. It comes from the Greek word that looks almost exactly like that and means a standard of judging.

And criteria is the plural. It’s a neuter plural in Greek, and that’s how those work.

You see the same thing with phenomenon. A lot of people say phenomena for the singular, and that’s not right.

Phenomenon is singular.

Phenomena is plural.

And you’re correct. Traditionally, at least, criterion is singular and criteria is plural.

And you’re also correct that a lot of people do use criterion as singular. It’s such large numbers now that it can’t be ignored.

And all the major style guides and many of the minor ones will deal with this question.

And I think there’s some consensus there, which is kind of, you’ve kind of come right to it, which is do it right.

Do it right when you can. Make sure that criterion is the singular and criteria is the plural.

But if someone else uses criteria as the singular, it’s not a mortal offense. You don’t need to condemn them. You don’t need to put a big red F at the top of the page.

Yeah, but send them a snarky email.

No, I don’t want to be snarky about it. I do have a very open mind about it.

-huh.

So, and the other word I thought of too like that is, well, you said the phenomenon is data. Does data follow that same rule?

Oh, yeah, that’s another one of those that gets even trickier, I think.

Datum and data.

And agenda. Agenda is a plural in Latin.

Agenda has completely made the transformation and is now fully anglicized and no longer follows the Greek rule.

Exactly.

Or Latin. Latin, yeah.

And I think that’s a good point, that agenda has been fully assimilated that way.

But if you look in some dictionaries, usage notes, those kinds of things, they’ll say that a lot of people do make that criteria mistake, but the rule still holds.

I would say that your nuanced position is a really nice one, and I think that you’ve fully covered your bases, and you’re acknowledging that we’re on the cusp of a transformation here and that there might be some people who learned it differently and do it a different way.

But again, if you know the traditional rule, why not go ahead and use it?

Well, Michelle, thank you so much for calling us today.

It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

It was our pleasure.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

I was reading the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage while we were talking here, and they really just kind of nail it in a sentence.

They say, only time will tell whether it will reach the unquestioned acceptability of agenda.

I think we’re still waiting for that data to come in.

Oh, okay.

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