Basis (Bases, pronounced base eez))—The underlying reason or foundation for an idea, e.g., what is the basis for deciding what grade a student earns?”

Curriculum (Curricula)--The course content or courses offered by a school department, e.g., “Does the CIS curriculum include a course on science? All the liberal arts curricula do”

Criterion (Criteria)—The basis for making a decision, e.g., “what is the criterion by which the Professor will decide between an A and a B grade? Are attendance and coming late part of the pass/fail criteria?”

Datum (Data)—one bit of meaningful information, e.g., “That datum on the current American birth rate is similar to the data on European nations’ birthrates.”

Index (Indices, pronounced indi seez)—A systematic list of subjects and how to get the information, e.g., “the index in the back of this book is laid out like the indices in those books.”

Matrix (Matrices, pronounced may tri seez)—an orderly arrangement of values in rows and columns, e.g., “this matrix showing the sales of products by cities is similar to those matrices of sales of products by methods.”

Medium (Media)—A way something is done, e.g., “the news media are slow to change their delivery methods, but the entertainment medium of motion pictures is very quick to change.”

Parenthesis (Parentheses, pronounced paren the seez)—( or ), e.g., The left parenthesis is always followed by a right parenthesis, so you always see two parentheses used in a sentence.”

Phenomenon (Phenomena)—An interesting event or thing, e.g., “As a curve ball pitcher he is definitely a rare phenomenon, but I’ve seen these phenomena come and go.” (Slang—phee nom)

Process (Processes, pronounced pro ces seez)—the way something operates or works out, e.g., “What is the process by which I can earn a bachelor’s degree?”