This is one of the most common problems in the language; a very large NUMBER of people can't tell the difference, which causes a large AMOUNT of trouble. (This sentence is an easy way to remember the difference.)
It's just that number refers, logically enough, to nouns that can be counted - so anything that you can have two, three, four etc of, you can also have a number of. So I could have a number of apples, friends, problems etc.
Amount is used with nouns that can't be counted - ie, you can't have 2, 3 or 4 sun, money or happiness, you also can't talk about a "number of money" etc. You would talk about a "large amount of money (or sun, or happiness) instead.
That's the whole rule; but a lot of people don't know it, so you will often hear mistakes being made ("A huge amount of people" is a typical error.)
It's just that number refers, logically enough, to nouns that can be counted - so anything that you can have two, three, four etc of, you can also have a number of. So I could have a number of apples, friends, problems etc.
Amount is used with nouns that can't be counted - ie, you can't have 2, 3 or 4 sun, money or happiness, you also can't talk about a "number of money" etc. You would talk about a "large amount of money (or sun, or happiness) instead.
That's the whole rule; but a lot of people don't know it, so you will often hear mistakes being made ("A huge amount of people" is a typical error.)
