请问amount究竟能否修饰可数名词？求高人指点！

ptlove4ever

提出这个问题是因为我在12版红色OG和单独的Verbal复习专册——蓝色OG上看到的两道题目有不同的解释

首先是红色OG 74 题的正确句子：
A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced theamountof phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.
再来是蓝色OG 31题的正确句子：
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already been put into orbit around the Earth, and the chances of a collision involving such material increase greatly as the amount of space debris and the number of satellitescontinue to rise.
蓝色OG对于这道题目的官方解析有这样一句话：Because debris is not a countable noun, it must be described as an amount;satellites are countable, sotheymust be referred to as anumber, not an amount.

根据第一题，我们看到amount明确修饰了一个可数名词复数：phosphate磷酸盐，phosphates为其复数。
根据第二题，我们明显看出OG官方认为amount不能修饰可数名词，所以必须换成number.

于是，我混沌了，究竟amount能否修饰可数名词呢？
还望有高人能够指点一二！

ptlove4ever

哎呀，净帮别人解决问题了，顶来顶去的，自己的帖子沉了。顶起来！
希望大家能帮帮忙啊，这个问题真的困扰我很久了……
其实从语法书上看到的是：amount既可以修饰不可数名词，也可以修饰可数名词。
而且，我一直怀疑蓝色OG的权威性，总觉得它的解答好像都没有红色OG的那么正确似的……不知道大家如何看待这个问题？

teddybearj4

首先，我也找到了LZ所说的amount of修饰可数名词的特例：

Prep08-Q165：
165. (OG10-243)
Some scientists have been critical of the laboratory tests conducted by the Federal Drug Administration on the grounds that the amounts of suspected carcinogensfed to animals far exceeds those that humans could consume
A.    far exceeds those that humans could consume
B.    exceeds by far those humans can consume
C.    far exceeds those humans are able to consume
D.    exceed by far those able to be consumed by humans    
E.    far exceed those that humans could consume

正确答案是E选项，放下正确答案来看the amounts of suspected carcinogens，carcinogens 是n. 致癌物（质）（carcinogen的复数）。


再看一个prep07-Q122：

122.    (30951-!-item-!-188;#058&004354)

Surveys have shown that in up to 40 percent of elderly people living independently in affluent countries, the consumption of one or more essential nutrients is insufficient or they have deficient levels of these nutrients in their blood.

(A) in up to 40 percent of elderly people living independently in affluent countries, the consumption of one or more essential nutrients is insufficient or they have
(B) in up to 40 percent of elderly people who live independently in affluent countries, they consume one or more essential nutrients insufficiently or have
(C) in up to 40 percent of elderly people who live independently in affluent countries, one or more essential nutrients are consumed insufficiently or having
(D) up to 40 percent of elderly people living independently in affluent countries who consume insufficient amounts of one or more essential nutrients or who have
(E) up to 40 percent of elderly people who live independently in affluent countries consume insufficient amounts of one or more essential nutrientsor have

正确答案是E，amounts of one or more essential nutrients，nutrient也是可数的。


刚刚在oxford (Adv)查了amount，上面写的是amount of sth.: especially used with uncountable noun.。他也没有说only used。

其实已经可以推断出来了，看到另外一个帖子上提到prep上面有写，amount is for undifferentiated masses such as sand or water，即amount用于修饰不可分割的物体，我没找到，但是基本上可以推断出来就是这样的，像你举得磷酸盐，还有另外两个例子里的营养素，致癌物质。这些虽然都可数，但是都不可分割物质。

ptlove4ever

恩，所以说是不是可以这样理解，amount修饰的是不可计数的可数名词，比如flood洪水，很诡异居然可数，这种词？

teddybearj4

应该是的~~

泾渭不凡

借花献佛：an amount of、a number of与a quantity of的用法
1）、an amount of通常与不可数、无生命的名词连用。如：
She spent a very large amount of money yesterday. 她昨天花了好大一笔钱。
2）、a number of 与可数、有生命或无生命的名词连用。如：
The president has made a large number of mistakes. 总统已犯了许多错误。
3）、a quantity of通常与可数或不可数、无生命的名词连用。如：
A vast / large quantity of imported beer has been sold. 已经售出了大量的进口啤酒。
再者，从上面的例句可知，amount, number和quantity的前面经常使用vast, large, small 等表示数量大小的形容词来修饰，而这些形容词前面有时还会使用very等程度副词来修饰。不过，要特别注意的是，在这些用法中，large不可用big 来替代。
http://forum.chasedream.com/GMAT_SC/thread-463577-1-1.html?SearchText=amount

babybearmm

语法书我不知道，我在Manhattan上、beartthegmat论坛的权威资料上，看到的都是：amount不能修饰可数，只能修饰不可数。你举的例子和这点不矛盾。

第一个，phosphates翻译成中文是磷酸盐，但其实是一大大大类化合物的统称，所有含PO4 3- 的化合物合起来就叫做phosphates，单独说其中的某种化合物，就不加s，例如生化里常见的adenosine triphosphate (ATP), guanosine triphosphate (GTP)，或者无机物比如calcium phosphate(磷酸钙)，这些化合物后面都没有s的。类似的词汇还有例如carbohydrates（碳水化合物），也是一大类，合在一起构成这个单词，才加s.
这里amount是说磷酸盐的含量，并不等于说"phosphates"这个大类里面包括多少种化合物。因此你不能看到这个词有s结尾，就误认为它可数。

debris同样，以s结尾，但是不可数（道理你能想通吧）

提出这个问题是因为我在12版红色OG和单独的Verbal复习专册——蓝色OG上看到的两道题目有不同的解释

首先是红色OG 74 题的正确句子：
A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced theamountof phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.
再来是蓝色OG 31题的正确句子：
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already been put into orbit around the Earth, and the chances of a collision involving such material increase greatly as the amount of space debris and the number of satellitescontinue to rise.
蓝色OG对于这道题目的官方解析有这样一句话：Because debris is not a countable noun, it must be described as an amount;satellites are countable, sotheymust be referred to as anumber, not an amount.

根据第一题，我们看到amount明确修饰了一个可数名词复数：phosphate磷酸盐，phosphates为其复数。
根据第二题，我们明显看出OG官方认为amount不能修饰可数名词，所以必须换成number.

于是，我混沌了，究竟amount能否修饰可数名词呢？
还望有高人能够指点一二！

-- by 会员 ptlove4ever (2012/2/4 11:56:43)

泾渭不凡

prep语法笔记159页
GMAT里面AMOUNT的用法解释是：amount is for undifferentiated masses such as sand or water，即amount用于修饰不可分割的物体，即修饰不可数名词，

babybearmm

btw:不建议看中文语法书，如果按咱中学学的那套语法来做gmat的话，纯粹misleading.
就算这语法正确，还有british eng和american eng的区别问题

泾渭不凡

哎~~baby JJ来了~~~~