Would
He had a large amount of sweat on his body.
work better, or would this:
He had large amounts of sweat on his body.
Are they both grammatically correct, so it's up to preference, or are there more specific cases where "amount" would work better than "amounts"?
Best Answer
Both are grammatically correct, and each communicates a subtle distinction. The word amount is used in the singular to convey a single quantity:
Since quantities tend to be measured with reference to content, source, time and space, a heterogenous amount is often presented as the plural amounts, to communicate the complexity of content, source, time or space. Consider the expression large amounts of data, where various types of data comes from various sources at various times, and are stored in various places, but they are considered together:
All of these large amounts of data could have been conglomerated into a single large amount of data, but the pluralization communicates a sense of the complexity within that single large amount.
The same perception of complexity is true with large amounts of money:
The large amount of each individual's expenditure could be tallied together as a single large amount of money, but the pluralization expresses a sense of the complexity. Even the large amount of an individual's expenditure can be expressed as a plural to communicate the various budget items or transactions within the expenditure:
In reference to OP in particular, a singular large amount of sweat would focus on the sweaty body as a whole at a single point of time. The plural expression would add a dimension of complexity: various sweaty places on the body, or perhaps even various causes of sweat over time.
Of course, people do not always hold these subtleties strictly in mind when talking or writing, so it is possible that the plural expression simply adds a sense of emphasis to the extremity of the sweaty condition.