Humans are inhumane

[Glizdka]

I found this essay topic on toeflresources.com. I liked it, so I decided to write it. Could you check it for me?

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Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Human activity is making the Earth a worse place to live. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

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The Earth is home to a lot of species. The most dominant of them, humans, should feel in charge of it and responsible for taking care of all its inhabitants. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. I believe human activity has made Earth a worse place to live, and I will support my opinion with the following arguments.

The thing that humans are proudest of is the technological progress that has made our lives easier and more convenient than ever before. However, our technology produces high amounts of waste that we do not dispose of responsibly. Most of the time, we just dump it straight into the environment, destroying ecosystems. We even discovered a great collection of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean 20 years ago, a testament to our carelessness, but ignorance is not the only way in which we harm this planet.

As if that wasn’t enough, we deliberately treat animals with cruelty. We keep them in large numbers in a tiny space in slaughterhouses, and see them only as a source of meat, not living beings, with little to no regards for the conditions they are kept in. On top of all the suffering it causes to livestock, the crops used for feeding animals only to kill them later on could instead be used to feed people starving in poor countries.

We like to think of ourselves as the rulers of the world, but we aren’t good rulers. We contaminate it with toxic materials, causing mass extinction of entire species. Our merciless reign has brought misery both to other beings and to ourselves. I wholeheartedly believe that humans have made Earth a worse place to live for everyone.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you use the definite article, don't capitalise "earth" (look at the first two words of your piece).

 

[jutfrank]

high amounts is not good.

 

[Glizdka]

high amounts is not good.

How about singular a high amount?

 

[jutfrank]

That's no better, no. Amounts can't be high or low, just large or small.

You could change amount(s) to volume(s), which would allow for high and sound better anyway.

 

[Glizdka]

Amounts can't be high or low.

Oh... I've heard high amount a lot. [STRIKE]The primordial source of all knowledge[/STRIKE] Google gives me 10M results. Is that a common mistake or am I missing something?

 

[jutfrank]

I only get a mere 7.6 million. Yes, I think that shows it's pretty common. I don't think you can really call it a 'mistake', though, because in many cases, it's learnt and natural language use. I'd just call it bad English.

A similar 'mistake' is the use of amount of + count noun, which is even more common.

 

[Glizdka]

I've heard amount of with count nouns so often that it just feels natural and correct. It wasn't until some 2 years ago that I started using number of. The way I tried to remember to use it was that it's the same kind of mistake misusing much/many or little/few is. I still have to somewhat consciously remind myself to use number of, and amount of slips from time to time, but I've made progress.

I think the problem with high amount is that amount should be described by its size, not level. Big, small, large, tiny, huge, vast, growing, etc., should all be alright. High, low, rising, falling, etc., should not. I'll try to remember it's the same kind of mistake saying big temperature is.

Is this the kind of wrongness you feel in high amount?

 

[jutfrank]

I've heard amount of with count nouns so often that it just feels natural and correct. It wasn't until some 2 years ago that I started using number of.

Congratulations.

I think the problem with high amount is that amount should be described by its size, not level. Is this the kind of wrongness you feel in high amount?

Yes.

I wish it were as simple as this, though. It's often the case that pure collocation trumps this kind of analytical sense. For example, my suggestion of high volume sounds perfectly okay to me, even though volume is just as much a measure of size. It's only when I think about it consciously that it starts to sound weird. Another similar phrase that I use myself, and even teach learners to use, is to a large extent. How can an extent be 'large'?

 

[Glizdka]

It's often the case that pure collocation trumps this kind of analytical sense.

Oxford collocation dictionary, conveniently provided online by courtesy of this website, does not list high amount, high volume, or large extent. With high volume, it would make sense to use high if you meant the intensity of sound, not occupied space. That being said, all of them sound natural and correct to me, and I've heard them countless times.

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Apart from high amount, what do you think about the essay overall?

 

[jutfrank]

what do you think about the essay overall?

Language wise, it's nice and tight and well organised. You've obviously taken care over it. Very good.