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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

amount vs. number

0 Hi, Why is it good to use the word 'amount' instead of "number" here? A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed by a small number of bad actors -- I think you can count the number of crime occurances. Would you say since the word 'crime' is uncountable here, the use of 'amount' is better?I think 'amount' usually goes with uncountable nouns. 0-
  

Top answer

02br 00However, since we have the word 01i 01font 00number02font 00 02i 00used in the sentence it would not sound good to have it repeated. 02br 01font 01i 00A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed by a small number of bad actors -- 02i 02font 02br 01i 00A substantial number of the nation's crimes are committed by a small number of bad actors -- 02i 02br 00The first sentence sounds much better. 0-

— Optilang

  • 02br 00However, since we have the word 01i 01font 00number02font 00 02i 00used in the sentence it would not sound good to have it repeated.
  • 02br 01font 01i 00A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed by a small number of bad actors -- 02i 02font 02br 01i 00A substantial number of the nation's crimes are committed by a small number of bad actors -- 02i 02br 00The first sentence sounds much better.
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3 Answers
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0 Since it is01font00 01i00the nation's crime02i00 02font00it is uncountable therefore use 01i00amount.02i02br
00To use01i00 01font00number 02font00 02i00you would have to change the sentence to:02br
00A substantial num
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Would you say how much crime? or how many crime? Obviously, much. Thus it's the amount of crime, not number of crime. You would, of course say, number of criminal acts.
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AnonymousI think 'amount' usually goes with uncountable nouns.
Crime in this context is not uncountable, but generic. I see your choices as follows:
  1. A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed
  2. A substantial number of the nation's crimes
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