By Chong Beng Lim
Lately, the abuse of the word,
'amount' on countable nouns has been rampant, or worse, bordering on insanity.
And, the Daily Mail has jumped on the bandwagon by forcing ‘amount’
on countable nouns.
Here is the sentence, "Nobody demanded he score the amount of
goals delivered by Cristiano Ronaldo".
This is tantamount to character assassination. The unique usage of
'amount' for uncountable nouns has been mutilated, maimed, and murdered beyond
recognition.
As the English language authority Theodore Bernstein once said in
his book, ‘It is correct to write, "A certain amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every
man at all times,” but it is incorrect to write, “The robbers took $120 in
United States money from the safe, but left behind a considerable amount of
Canadian coins.”’
In Fowler’s Modern English Usage, “Amount is normally used with
countable nouns (i.e. noun which have no plural) to mean ‘quantity’ (e.g. a
reasonable amount of forgiveness, glue, resistance, straw, etc.), and number
with plural nouns (e.g. a certain number of boys, houses, jobs, etc.)”
Hence, the sentence could be
reconstructed as "...he score the number of goals delivered by Christiano
Ronaldo."
Nevertheless, the Fowler’s Modern English Usage further stated, “ Amount, however, is fast breaking into the
territory of number, especially when the following plural noun is regarded as
an aggregate or collection.”
I cringe, shiver, and squirm every
time I see the word ‘amount’ is forcefully used under this sense!
God, please save the word, 'amount'.
©ChongBeng Lim, The Standard of Malaysia English,
2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and
written permission from The Standard of Malaysia English is strictly
prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit
is given to Chong Beng Lim and The Standard of Malaysia English blogspot with
appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
