Describing Amounts

Can you spot what's wrong in each of these sentences?

• She has less quarters than Jim.
• Over a hundred people attended the meeting.
• He needs alot of practice.

Choosing the right words to describe "how much" can be confusing, but five simple rules can help.

1. Use "less" for indefinite quantities, those you can't count. "The teacher has less time to grade papers this week" or "This recipe would taste better with less mayonnaise."
2. If you 're writing about something you can count, then use "fewer," not "less." "She has fewer quarters than Jim" or "He found fewer seashells on the beach than he expected."
3. Use "over" to describe where something is, not to describe an amount. "The fish jumped over the net" or "The railroad company built the bridge over the lake."
4. Use "more than" to describe an amount. "More than a hundred people attended the meeting" or "That bottle holds more than a quart."
5. "A lot" is always written as two words, no exceptions. I remember it this way: Would you write "abit" or "alittle"? The sentence above should be: "He needs a lot of practice."

Keeping these five rules in mind will make it easier to correctly describe amounts. 

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