Why you don’t want a large amount of people
I’ve been grading writing assignments this week, and have seen the phrase “a large amount of people” many times. No. No. Please, no.
I can’t draw at all, so I’ve engaged the help of some clip art for this.
Here is a tree:
If I want to increment trees (have more of them) they are a discrete thing, so I need to have a larger NUMBER of them.
If I try to have a larger AMOUNT of trees, this happens:
Pretty horrible, isn’t it? Imagine this was people.
Maybe I don’t want 3 trees. Do I want LESS trees?
Uh, no. Sorry. Mr. Tree!
I want FEWER of these discrete objects.
There. That’s better
Because, I wouldn’t want less people, either.
So remember, unless you are writing a horror movie script, a greater number or fewer people. Save the more or less for things like money, flour and other stuff you can’t count out one by one.
Once again, grammar saves lives.
Sturg says 
Posts like this make me feel like a buck-toothed illiterate soldier-boy.
Phew. This is a large amount of information.
Reblogged this on Writing tips that work and commented:
Well said, Professor Sturgill.