Gullscorer wrote:Danny, just to point out that in your article you correctly mentioned 'the amount of money', but you later mentioned 'the amount of people' when you should have said 'the number of people'. To use the word 'amount' in this way is a common error, though most of the time the meaning is not lost and no harm is done.
There are often more appropriate words to use. Hence, one can say, for example: 'volume of water', 'degree of mistrust', 'amount of rubbish', the 'extent of the damage', 'the scope of the survey'. As a basic rule of thumb, where something can in theory or practice be counted (people) we would use 'number', but where something cannot be so counted (rubbish) we would use 'amount'.
Another common mistake when referring to people is to use the word 'that', when the correct word to use is 'who'. For example, it is correct to say 'the people who went to the football match', or 'the man who lost his ticket'. The word 'that' should be reserved for use in regard to inanimate objects or things otherwise lacking identity. For example, 'the dog that barked', 'the land that flooded', though it should be pointed out that, instead of 'that', the word 'which' may sometimes be more appropriate in certain contexts.
People are often confused as to the appropriateness of the word 'that' as opposed to 'which'. Basically, 'that' is used as a determiner preceding a noun, as a subordinating conjunction, an adverb, an intensifier, as a relative pronoun in restrictive clauses, or to emphasise a previous noun, whereas 'which' generally refers to my battle-axe harridan of a mother-in-law.. :whip:
This made me a cry with pride a little bit.
One that you missed is the misuse of 'less'. Less should only be used when what you're describing doesn't have a fixed number. e.g. there was less water.
If what you're describing has units that can be counted, you use 'fewer. e.g. there are fewer people.