Criteria, Media and Data: Singular or Plural?
Quick Answer
Criteria and media are plural forms. The singulars are criterion and medium. In careful writing, use “these criteria are“. In everyday speech, treating “media” as singular is now widely accepted.
See the Pattern First
The formal, correct pairs look like this.
- One criterion is important. All five criteria are important.
- Television is one medium. Television and radio are two media.
- ✗ “The main criteria is price.” → ✓ “The main criterion is price.”
- ✓ “The media are reporting it.” (formal) / “The media is reporting it.” (everyday)
The third line is the one worth memorising. If you are naming one requirement, the word is criterion — and almost nobody says it. Using it correctly makes your writing stand out immediately.
The Pairs
Same Latin and Greek pattern you have already met: -on and -um both become -a.
| One | Many | One | Many |
|---|---|---|---|
| criterion | criteria | medium | media |
| phenomenon | phenomena | datum | data |
| bacterium | bacteria | curriculum | curricula |
Why “Media Is” Became Acceptable
“The media” stopped meaning “several separate channels” and started meaning one single thing: the press as an institution. When a plural word becomes one idea, English lets it take a singular verb. The same happened to “agenda”, which was plural in Latin and is completely singular now.
Data is in the middle of the same journey. Scientists still write “the data are clear”. Everyone else says “the data is clear”. Both will be accepted in most places today — but in a scientific paper, use “are”.
One criterion, many criteria. Never “a criteria”.
The Safe Choices
If you want to be right in every situation:
- Always use criterion for one requirement — “a criteria” is simply wrong.
- Use media are in formal writing, media is in conversation.
- Use data are in science, data is everywhere else.
Notice that only the first line is a hard rule. The other two are style choices — and knowing the difference is what marks an advanced learner.
Mistakes Learners Make (You Are Not Alone)
The first one here is the mistake that examiners notice most:
- ✗ a criteria → ✓ a criterion (the singular exists and matters)
- ✗ one media → ✓ one medium
- ✗ these datas → ✓ these data (data is already plural)
“A criteria” appears constantly in job adverts and reports. Now that you have seen it, you will notice it everywhere.
Your Turn — Quick Quiz
Five questions. Take your time — the table above is still there if you need it.
1. 1. Price is the most important ____ for us.
2. 2. All three ____ have been met.
3. 3. Radio is an old ____ of communication.
4. 4. In a scientific paper, which is preferred?
5. 5. Which sentence is definitely WRONG?
Keep Going
You have finished the whole plural system — every group, every exception, every argument.
Plurals were about nouns. Verbs have their own hidden patterns, and they are just as learnable. Why does “cut” never change, while “take” becomes “took” and then “taken”?
Next lesson: Verbs that never change in the past tense
Sources
I’m Khamis Maiouf. English is not my first language – I learned it as an adult in the UK, passed Functional Skills Level 2 in English, qualified in Hairdressing at Level 3, and I’m now studying Business at university. For over five years I’ve taught ESOL classes in my community and tutored students through GCSE English. I write every lesson on this site myself, for the learner I used to be.
