Oral vs written language

I am listening to the BBC breaking news programme and the broadcaster is describing an accident with “a large amount of police” arriving.

But what is the correct written form?

“a large number of police”, as police is countable in English. “The police were visible at every street corner.”

In all languages, different rules apply for oral vs written language. We can often use words when we speak that would be considered errors in written language.

For uncountable nouns, the “correct” grammar is “amount” and “less”; for countable nouns it’s  “number” and “fewer”.

Here is correct usage of “amount” and “less” with uncountable nouns from a BBC article.

• The Burgundy wine region also produces a small amount of rosé.
• Less sun means less sugar in the grapes.

And of “fewer” and “number” for countable nouns, also from a BBC article:

• Botswana has therefore been allowing fewer tourists than neighbouring countries.
• The investment will lead to a number of new jobs in the sector.

Test yourself

Here are some more examples from BBC articles. Which is the correct choice?

1. Although a surprising amount/number of people experience periods of estrangement, many of them reconcile with their parents later.
2. When a star dies, it releases a huge amount/number of energy.
3. “K2-18b is interesting for a number/an amount of reasons,” says Sarkar. 
4. This summer, Gamston in Retford will be among a number/an amount of locations to undergo mosquito surveillance ….
5. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, which consumed a huge number/amount of money. 
6. Despite efforts to minimise the fallout by using a low-fission explosive, which produce less/fewer atomic fragments, the blasts were detected as far away as the United States and Sweden.

Answer key

1. a surprising number of people
2. a huge amount of energy
3. a number of reasons
4. a number of locations
5. a huge amount of money
6. fewer atomic fragments

________________________________________________
Author: Carol Waites

Presentation/editing by Christina O’Shaughnessy 
https://worldwidewriting.org/

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Carol Waites (PhD)
Email: carolswritingtips@gmail.com
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