[Grammar] "the number" VS "the amount"

I'm a Korean man who studying English, suffering from the fundamental differences between two languages.

The most hardest concept for Korean is, I think, a variety of types of nouns, among which, nouns relating to quantity and number make Korean people depressed.

My questions are as follows.

1. Personally, I believe that "the number" includes the meaning of "the amount", "the quantity" and that kinds of other words. If so, could I use "the number" as a substitute for "the amount" to paraphrase in writing?

2. That kind of word choice could be a kind of minus point of my writing?

3. Provided that, Could I use the same adjective to decorate my opinion?
For example,

1) The number of people from Korea(3,000) is ~~ than that of people from Japan(2,000).

2) The amount of water used in Korea is ~~ than that of water used in Japan


Could I use the adjectives of higher, larger, bigger, greater, more enourmous, more gigantic, lower, smaller and shorter in the abovementioned both sentences?


PS. I'm affraid that I might not express my opinion and problems I have because of lack of my English skill.

Please note that I'm not an English teacher.

I think your writing is sufficient. I was just reading Montaigne and from what he says, a good communicator does not pay so much attention to the language than to the ideas he's expressing. Since you're expressing yourself in a way that's understandable, I believe your English is adequate. Don't be so hard on yourself!

To answer your questions:

1. I believe that "the number" does not paraphrase "the amount." It may be a different way of stating "the amount," but I do not see the necessity of using "the number" over just writing "the amount." Maybe I could help you if you gave me some kind of context.

2. Writing "the number" implies that you're about to discuss an abstract digit in your prose. When you write "the amount," your reader may anticipate the element of addition or subtraction to be included in your prose. There is no negative connotation to either, but you should use your wording wisely.

3. You should never aim to decorate your writing. There are such things as style and voice, yet those concepts should come naturally. Instead, I stress that you only elaborate when necessary.

"Could I use the adjectives of higher, larger, bigger, greater, more enourmous, more gigantic, lower, smaller and shorter in the abovementioned both sentences?"

You may use any of those in your two sentences below. They will help your reader, and I recommend the use of such adjectives in your sentences.

Thank your for your replying. I understand what you're meaning but, frankly speaking, I have to obtain high score in writing part of IELTS test because I'm not good at listening part. Therefore, to raise overal score, I have to be obsessed with accuracy since that is all that I could do.

wolfand said:

The [STRIKE]most[/STRIKE] hardest concept for Koreans is, I think, [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the variety of types of nouns, among which[STRIKE],[/STRIKE] nouns relating to quantity and number make Korean people depressed.

We generally refer to these as ''count' and 'non-count' or 'countable' and 'uncountable' nouns. It's not only Koreans who get depressed by these!

My questions are as follows.

1. Personally, I believe that "the number" includes the meaning of "the amount", "the quantity" and that kinds of other words. If so, could I use "the number" as a substitute for "the amount" to paraphrase in writing? No. 'number' is used for plural count nouns and 'amount' used for non-count nouns. You used the words correctly in:

The number of people from Korea is...

The amount of water used in Korea is...

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fivejedjon said:

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Thank you! I love you comment!

It's a really great help for me!