With reference to the Emma Watson speech in the Guardian I’ve been stunned by the amount of men in my life... I think its time to talk about AMOUNT and NUMBER. The key difference is: use NUMBER of the noun is countable. 1 man, 2 men, a number of men, etc. From dailywritingtips/amount-vs-number/: Amount refers to quantities that are measured in bulk or mass — considered as a whole — while number pertains to things that can be counted individually: “The amount of square footage in the attached shed is enough for a push lawn mower or a small barbecue,” but “The total number of square feet includes the attached shed’s square footage.” In reference to amount, use the terms little or less or the phrase “much more”: “The amount left is too little to be of any use.” “The amount is less than I thought.” “The amount is much more than we expected.” In reference to number, use the words few or fewer or the phrase “many more”: “The number of people who have signed up is too few.” “The number of people here, compared to the number here yesterday, is fewer.” “The number of people here is many more than we expected.”
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 22:25:40 +0000
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