Commonly Confused Words: amount vs. number
Today's commonly confused words are amount and number. Both refer to quantity, but which should be used when?
For example, should Harry Potter say, "I can't believe the amount of people crammed into the common room for this party" or "I can't believe the number of people crammed into the common room for this party"?
Hermione and Professor Snape can help explain.
We use amount with mass nouns and number with count nouns.
Count nouns, just like they sound, are things that can be counted, or directly modified by a number:Professor Snape measured out four drops of dragon's blood.
Hermione gave the shopkeeper 17 Knuts.
That morning owls delivered 168 letters and three Howlers during breakfast.
The potion needed to be stirred clockwise for precisely eleven minutes.
You therefore refer to the number of drops of dragon's blood, the number of Knuts, the number of letters and Howlers, and the number of minutes.
Mass nouns refer to things that cannot be directly modified by a number. You can't have four dragon's blood; you must have a measurement to describe it-four drops. So it's: the amount of dragon's blood, the amount of money, the amount of owl post, or the amount of time.
Count nouns come in discrete units. Gases, liquids, powders, and substances like wood or metal are usually mass nouns-you must provide some kind of measurement in order to quantify them. Hermione quickly filled in the quiz:
What is the number of leeches required in the making of Polyjuice Potion? Four leeches.
What is the amount of shredded boomslang skin used in the brewing of Polyjuice Potion? Three measures of shredded boomslang skin.
Emotions and abstract concepts are often mass nouns, but be sure to test them with a number. Count nouns can be non-physical, too, such as ideas, thoughts, or flights of fancy.The amount of aggravation Snape got from the Gryffindors surpassed the other three houses combined. The number of flat-out wrong ideas they had about potions-making was staggering.
Some nouns can be either countable or mass depending on context. The number of cakes the House Elves delivered to the Welcoming Feast left the tables groaning.
In the above case, Professor Snape could look out over the Great Hall and count the exact number of individual cakes if he so wished.
Ron groaned and belched. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat that amount of cake," Hermione remarked.
In this case, Hermione would have had to define a measurement in order to quantify Ron's cake eating. He might have eaten five slices, or three servings, or four plates, or 28 forkfuls. If he had managed to get down an entire cake unit, she likely would have said, "I've never seen anyone eat a whole cake," instead. However, since she wasn't referring to cake in the sense of the discrete unit, it's a mass noun.
So in the example at the top, is "people" a mass noun or a count noun?"Come on," Ron pleaded. "We still need three people to have a proper pickup Quidditch match."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I wasn't aware a pickup match had a required number of people."
Unless there have been numerous, terrible Splinching accidents, people come in discrete, countable units, so Harry should say, "I can't believe the number of people crammed into the common room for this party."
For example, should Harry Potter say, "I can't believe the amount of people crammed into the common room for this party" or "I can't believe the number of people crammed into the common room for this party"?
Hermione and Professor Snape can help explain.
We use amount with mass nouns and number with count nouns.
Count nouns, just like they sound, are things that can be counted, or directly modified by a number:Professor Snape measured out four drops of dragon's blood.
Hermione gave the shopkeeper 17 Knuts.
That morning owls delivered 168 letters and three Howlers during breakfast.
The potion needed to be stirred clockwise for precisely eleven minutes.
You therefore refer to the number of drops of dragon's blood, the number of Knuts, the number of letters and Howlers, and the number of minutes.
Mass nouns refer to things that cannot be directly modified by a number. You can't have four dragon's blood; you must have a measurement to describe it-four drops. So it's: the amount of dragon's blood, the amount of money, the amount of owl post, or the amount of time.
Count nouns come in discrete units. Gases, liquids, powders, and substances like wood or metal are usually mass nouns-you must provide some kind of measurement in order to quantify them. Hermione quickly filled in the quiz:
What is the number of leeches required in the making of Polyjuice Potion? Four leeches.
What is the amount of shredded boomslang skin used in the brewing of Polyjuice Potion? Three measures of shredded boomslang skin.
Emotions and abstract concepts are often mass nouns, but be sure to test them with a number. Count nouns can be non-physical, too, such as ideas, thoughts, or flights of fancy.The amount of aggravation Snape got from the Gryffindors surpassed the other three houses combined. The number of flat-out wrong ideas they had about potions-making was staggering.
Some nouns can be either countable or mass depending on context. The number of cakes the House Elves delivered to the Welcoming Feast left the tables groaning.
In the above case, Professor Snape could look out over the Great Hall and count the exact number of individual cakes if he so wished.
Ron groaned and belched. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat that amount of cake," Hermione remarked.
In this case, Hermione would have had to define a measurement in order to quantify Ron's cake eating. He might have eaten five slices, or three servings, or four plates, or 28 forkfuls. If he had managed to get down an entire cake unit, she likely would have said, "I've never seen anyone eat a whole cake," instead. However, since she wasn't referring to cake in the sense of the discrete unit, it's a mass noun.
So in the example at the top, is "people" a mass noun or a count noun?"Come on," Ron pleaded. "We still need three people to have a proper pickup Quidditch match."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I wasn't aware a pickup match had a required number of people."
Unless there have been numerous, terrible Splinching accidents, people come in discrete, countable units, so Harry should say, "I can't believe the number of people crammed into the common room for this party."