When speaking about quantities, it is very easy to use the words ‘amount’ and ‘number’ in the wrong way. Slip-ups like these can make your work look quite unprofessional so, if you want to make sure you have it right, send it over to a professional proofreader before you submit!
Amount
The word ‘amount’ is used to refer to mass nouns such as ‘sand’, or ‘butter’. These are items that are either individually very small or that come as a mass. We would say:What amount of butter should I put in this recipe?
orThere was a large amount of sand in my shoes after the trip to the beach on Sunday
Number
The word number is used to refer to things that can easily be differentiated. For example:I saw a great number of cars on the road at rush hour
orI only have a small number of plants in my garden
It can be difficult to learn differences such as these, so do be sure to keep checking on our academic blog for more tips and tricks.