#Language #Mathematics #English #Grammar .
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@StefanMuelller @lexiconista I’m noticing everyone around me (in the Netherlands though, so English as a second language) using “amount” for countable things instead of “number”. Is that a real trend?
@bart @StefanMuelller @lexiconista In American English one would say "number of apples" when talking about whole apples rather than "amount of apples"
"amount" would be for something that's measured rather than counted. Amount of water or flour for a recipe. If you needed a specific number of grams or volume of apples ( or applesauce ), then you could use amount
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@StefanMuelller Depends on the set: you can point at a countable subset of the reals and say 'Those are many real numbers'
Many real numbers are in this list, much of the real number line is in this diagram
(now I’m having a different quibble with myself. Perhaps any half of the real number line would qualify.)
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@StefanMuelller Well, technically,
you cannot use plural for uncountable nouns either. So, it's ‘‘many rational numbers’’, and ‘‘much of the real number-dom’’.
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That would depend on what particular set of rational/real numbers you are talking about.
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@StefanMuelller also “how many does this cost?”
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@StefanMuelller @lexiconista I’m noticing everyone around me (in the Netherlands though, so English as a second language) using “amount” for countable things instead of “number”. Is that a real trend?
@bart @StefanMuelller @lexiconista
Maybe they confuse "amount" with "een berg"
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@StefanMuelller
#AltText4You
4 Panel comic with 2 snails.Panel 1:
Left snail craws behind right snail and asks: 'English is difficult. When do we use "many" and when do we use "much"?Panel 2:
Right snail answers: '"Many" is for nouns that are countable, like apples. "Much" is for nouns that are not countable, like water.Panel 3:
Left snail concludes: 'So we should say "many rational numbers" and "much real numbers"?Panel 4:
Right snail is turned around to look (with pain?) at left snail. -
@StefanMuelller I think that makes sense!
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@StefanMuelller
I would say, things where you can identify unique items…. But then electrons..@ThreeSigma @StefanMuelller
Thundercats ? -
@StefanMuelller@lingo.lol But neither real numbers nor (ir)rational numbers are limited?
Probably should have said something like "indefinite" rather than merely "countable"
…and, yes, I get the joke.
Oddly, I tend to far more frequently run into the opposite of this problem ("fewer" versus "less"). -
@StefanMuelller @lexiconista I’m noticing everyone around me (in the Netherlands though, so English as a second language) using “amount” for countable things instead of “number”. Is that a real trend?
@bart @StefanMuelller @lexiconista so much came before many?
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@StefanMuelller
I would say, things where you can identify unique items…. But then electrons.. -
@StefanMuelller @argv_minus_one @ThreeSigma is energy many or much
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@StefanMuelller @argv_minus_one @ThreeSigma is energy many or much
For that, you also need a sufficiently good theory of particle physics.
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@StefanMuelller
I would say, things where you can identify unique items…. But then electrons..Much is certainly open, and many are certainly closed. That much can be said
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@StefanMuelller Missed opportunity to add a Loss.jpg to the green snail's eyes
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@StefanMuelller Number is the noun in both cases. Rational and real are adjectives.
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Much is certainly open, and many are certainly closed. That much can be said
@ThreeSigma @StefanMuelller If one couldn't say much, it's probably because language sentences are countable...
