①所能修饰的名词有区别
a large number of只可以修饰可数名词复数形式;a large amount of修饰不可数名词。
例句:I have a number of letters to write today.
今天我有好多信要写。
I spent a large amount of my time on this work.
我在这项工作上花了不少时间。
②谓语动词的形式有区别
a large number of 修饰的词作主语时谓语用复数形式;a large amount of 修饰的词作主语时谓语用单数形式。
例句:A large number of books are missing from the library.
图书馆的许多书不见了。
A large amount of damage was done in a short time.
短期内造成大量损害。
注意:The number of的意思是“...的数量”,修饰的可数名词作主语时谓语用单数形式;amounts of的意思是“大量的”,修饰的不可数名词作主语时谓语用复数形式,即谓语的数取决于 amount 的数。
只能修饰可数名词的
a large/great/good number of,a good/great many,dozens of,scores of,quite a few
只能修饰不可数名词的
a great deal of,a large amount of,quite a little,a large sum of
既可修饰可数也可修饰不可数名词的
plenty of,a lot of,lots of,a large quantity of,a good supply of