[fpc-pascal]Compiler uses bad English: "amount" vs "number"

Rich Pasco pasco at acm.org
Sat May 25 03:22:24 CEST 2002


BigMatt19 at aol.com wrote:

> Especially since the current term fits perfectly.  "Wrong amount of
> parameters" is perfectly legal in the English language.

I beg to differ, but it is not, since "parameters" is countable, the
correct word is "number", not "amount."

> Sorry, I just get very annoyed with those who nitpick ...

You missed my point.  I'm not attacking the FPC developers;
I'm trying to help them.

gj bart wrote,

> If the project directors want the finest possible product,
> then shouldn't this attitude also include grammar and usage?

Thank you, gj, you got the spirit of what I meant.

Certainly no programs will crash if this "bug" isn't fixed, and anyone
using the compiler will understand what is meant, but what is the point
in annoying those users who, like me, put a value on precise use of
English?

     - Rich





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