Here’s another installment of Word Knots, where we look at common instances of words that are often confused or misused. 

Our source for this installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). This is a great book to browse: I highly recommend it.

We avoid taking a stern ‘grammar police’ approach: we always try to simply point out examples of semantic confusion that should be considered “must to avoid.”

From Fiske:

Amount

Misused for number.

As Fiske says:

The word number is used with that which can be easily counted (or count nouns); the word amount with that which cannot easily be counted (or mass nouns).

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The  error usually occurs when people use “amount” when they mean “number.”

Let’s look at the most relevant Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary definitions:

amount

noun

1  a : the total number or quantity : aggregate

    b : the sum of individuals

Number is regularly used with count nouns <a large number of mistakes> <any number of times> while amount is mainly used with noncount, or mass, nouns.

number

noun

1  a : an arithmetical total : sum of the units involved : aggregate

    d : a total of units of a particular kind

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Note that in my view, M-W contributes to the confusion a bit by suggesting “aggregate” as a synonym for both “amount” and “number”: That’s not really the case. But once again I agree with Fiske as well as M-W’s comment about how each of these should be used.

To say this

The amount of attendees at the concert was amazing!

would be incorrect (because you can actually count them).

Correct examples of each:

The number of attendees at the concert was amazing!

The amount of effort required to clean up the beach after the storm was incalculable.

The number of pelicans on the beach after the storm was amazing: They seemed to be everywhere.

Always keep in mind that word choice is crucial, which is why checking your work and consulting a legitimate dictionary is recommended to ensure that your intended meaning is clear.

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