2

I have this sentence from a slide in my class:

Enterprise has one DW and data marts source their information from it

Where DW is a shortcut for data warehouse.

I couldn't find the verb in that sentence. Is it source? If yes, what does the sentence mean? Does it mean that the data marts extract their data from the DW?

Improve this question
4
  • What does "enterprise" mean or refer to in this sentence? I'm interested because of a previous question that used the word.
    – user6951
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:43
  • 2
    @δοῦλος, this is a different use of "Enterprise", I believe: here, it's the name of a computer program (or possibly, the name of a version of a computer program, in the sense of Windows 7 Home vs. Windows 7 Professional, where you could use "Professional" as a shorthand to refer to the latter).
    – Martha
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 17:23
  • 3
    In the parlance of software development, it refers to a business enterprise in its entirety, usually meaning its entire technical infrastructure.
    – Dan
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 17:56
  • Companies sometimes call a software edition "Enterprise" when they want to imply that that edition is the one business enterprises should purchase.
    – Jasper
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 10:42

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8

There are two verbs in this sentence:

Enterprise has one DW and data marts source their information from it.

Yes, data marts extract their information from the DW. They use the DW as their information source.

Improve this answer
7
  • I got the idea, but data marts extract information, not data if you would like to correct. many thanks
    – Marco Dinatsoli
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 12:10
  • 2
    Don't get me started please. I spent three years in bachelor degree studying how to extract information from data. There is 100000000 differences between them
    – Marco Dinatsoli
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 12:30
  • 3
    @MarcoDinatsoli - for the technical and specialized purposes, yes. For the purpose of explaining what word in a sentence is a verb and for pointing out what word functions as the verb's complement or "semantic object", I guess not.
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 12:32
  • 1
    @MarcoDinatsoli - I see: data is raw ore, information is refined ore, and the DW is the mine-cum-refining factory. If you feel awkward, I'll edit the answer (0: Voila!
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 12:35
  • 5
    It may be true that data and information have different definitions when used to refer to their technical meanings in certain fields. Nevertheless, as used in everyday English in many contexts, they are at least partially interchangeable. That is the way people use these words, and trying to straight jacket people into using the terms in a way that reflects technical usage is misguided.
    – user6951
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:49
3

Yes, source is a verb in that sentence. This sentence might illustrate what's going on:

Data marts source their information from the enterprise's one data warehouse.

In this context, source means "get". More specifically, it means that the data marts use the data warehouse as the source of their information. The author chooses to write "source" rather than "get" in order to convey all the usual connotations of the noun "source" (which is certainly more familiar than the verb "source"). Those connotations include suggesting that the data marts rely exclusively on the data warehouse and that the information from the data warehouse is authoritative.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .