Amount and number (the nouns, not the verbs) often get misused. Amount is a mass noun and you use it when talking about things you can’t count: “There is a large amount of smog.” Number is used, well, for things you can number, so that should help you remember the rule. “I filed a number of lawsuits.”
I could say I see “a huge number of instances in which writers misuse the word amount, and a large amount of misunderstanding surrounding these two words.”
Here’s a little grammar lesson. Some verbs are transitive. This means they take a direct object. Writers often run into…
If you’re like me, you get who and whom mixed up. I often have to stop and reword the sentence…
A lot of authors are unclear regarding when to capitalize a title or profession. The rule is pretty simple. When…
I don’t want to spend any more time on this than is necessary, but we should touch on any more…
Traditionally, the word couple has been used as a noun meaning “two things.” As a noun, it requires the use…
Writers seem to get “cappy” happy (yes, I just made up that term). I often see the most random terms…
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I graduated from High School in 1979 and from college in 1983. I have a BA in English/Creative Writing and Psychology (dual degree). My mother was a proofreader for technical journals for many years and also the English secretary at the undergraduate office of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. I have to admit, many of the grammatical posts I read here and in other bloggers’ posts sound like grammarians have made up a new language to describe rules that have existed for ages. I really feel out of the loop…has our language changed that much in 30 years?