Close-up p 145. Amount, number, quantity

With uncountable nouns:

A great/good deal of and a large/huge amount of are used with uncountable nouns.

• I have spent a great deal of time thinking of the design.
• You have got rid of a large amount of old clothing.
• We use a huge amount of paper in the office every day.

• The amount of work I got through in July was double the amount that I did in June.
• No amount of love would heal the hatred she felt.
• I had a certain amount of respect for him: he was a good footballer and a good ambassador for his country.

We can also use amount as a verb, as in amount to, and again this describes the counting or measuring of something:

• When you added everything up, his total expenditure on this project amounted to £9,950.
• I don’t think the talks in Helsinki will amount to very much.

With countable nouns:

A large/great number of and a great/good many (An extremely large number (of persons or things) ) are used before plurals, and the verb that follows is plural. An extremely large number (of persons or things)

• Despite the instructions, a large number of people didn’t know what to do.
• A great number of students volunteer each year for environmental projects.
• I have a number of things I want to talk to you about.
• A good/great many of their dresses and suits are handmade

 
We use number to describe how many, and often we do not know exactly how many there are. This is one of the defining aspects of a number of. Number is countable and can be applied to both animate and inanimate items.

• a large number of cows were infected.
• There are a number of reasons why I can’t marry you.
• A number of people were injured in the explosion.
• I had warned her not to go there any number of times, but she wouldn’t listen.

many a

used with a singular noun and verb to mean ‘a large number of things or people’

• Many a good man has been destroyed by drink.
• I've been there many a time.
• Many a tale was told.
• Many a man has tried but few men have succeeded.
  

 a good few

a fairly large number of things or people. E.g.   I’ve done this a good few times now.  

 With both countable and uncountable nouns:

a lot of/ lots of/ 

plenty of

We use plenty of as a quantifier before both countable and uncountable nouns to mean ‘a lot’, ‘a large quantity’: 

Don’t worry there are plenty of options.

We’ve got plenty of rice

 

quantity

A quantity of can be followed by a countable noun or an uncountable noun. We often talk about large or small quantities of something. It is usually applied to inanimate objects.  

There were very small quantities of peppers on sale in the market. 

There are very large quantities of gas beneath the North Sea. 

The soldiers discovered a large quantity of weapons hidden under the floor of a disused building. (countable) 

You only need a very small quantity of cement to mix with the sand. (uncountable) 

Large quantities of illegal drugs had been discovered. (countable) 

Aid workers have delivered huge quantities of food to the refugee camps. (uncountable) 

 

We often contrast quantity with quality:

• It doesn’t matter how many words you write: it is the quality that is important, not the quantity.
• These toys are sold in quantity and the quality doesn’t seem to matter.

a plethora of

/ˈpleθərə/

a very large amount or number of something

a plethora of suggestions/ changes/ flowers (C)

The report contained a plethora of detail. (U)  

a plethora of news (U)