Why did the authors use the phrase “the quantity of people” in these examples

phrase-usage

I always thought we don't say "the quantity of people", but to my surprise, there are cases when people do use it. Look at these examples:

  1. The quantity of people losing their jobs is still on the rise. Huffington Post
  2. What is essential here is not the quantity of people who see the work, or even that witnesses are present; "Action" is done many, many times with no one watching. The New York Times
  3. Nevertheless, the quantity of people being annoyed exceeds by far the number of persons with diagnosed outcomes that can be ascribed to vehicle exhaust exposure, which makes annoyance an important public health issue. National Library of Medicine

So, in what cases can you use "the quantity of people"?

Best Answer

Realistically, there are no contexts where a learner should think of using "the quantity of people" or "the amount of people". Use "the number of people".

There will always be a few examples of the "unusual" choice of phrasing, but it's really not worth trying to justify - let alone copy them...

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