A ‣ Number and quantity

Number is used for countable nouns (e.g. a large number of students), amount for uncountable nouns (e.g. a large amount of money).

Some adjectives for expressing number and quantity:

Even minute amounts of toxic material can be dangerous. (fml)

Add just a tiny amount of chilli pepper, or else it may get too hot.

Were there many people at the airport? Oh, about average, I'd say. (fairly informal)

A considerable number of people failed to get tickets. (fml)

A significant number of students have dropped out of university in the last year. [ noticeably large]

Substantial amounts of money have been wasted on this project. (fml)

There is an excessive amount of sugar in many soft drinks. [too much; rather formal]

A vast / An enormous quantity of sand was blown on to the road during the storm.

B ‣ Informal words for number/quantity

I've got dozens of nails in my tool box. [a dozen is 12; dozens of means many; especially used for countables]

Scores of people were injured when the gas tank exploded. [a score is 20 or about 20; scores of means a large number of; usually formal]

There's heaps/bags/loads of time yet, slow down! (usually with singular there is, not there are; countable or uncountable; infml)

There was absolutely tons of food at the party - far too much. (again, note singular there was; especially used for things, not so often used for abstract nouns)

There are tons of apples on this tree this year - last year there were hardly any.

(Note: The verb here is plural because of 'apples', but singular in the example before with 'food' number depends on the noun following, not on tons/lots/loads.)

Just a drop of milk for me, please. [tiny amount of any liquid]

C ‣ Degree and intensity: collocations with utter(ly), total(ly), wholly

Utter(ly), total(ly) and wholly mean complete(ly).

Utter combines with 'strong' nouns like nonsense, contempt, silence, confusion, chaos and despair.
There was utter chaos during the transport strike.

Utterly combines with adjectives such as ridiculous, confused and impossible.
I was utterly confused by the instruction manual that came with my camcorder!

Total combines most often with disbelief and ban, e.g.
She looked at him in total disbelief.
The government introduced a total ban on smoking in public places.

Totally combines most often with different, unexpected, unsuitable and wrong, e.g.
The two brothers have totally different personalities.

Wholly combines most often with dependent, inadequate and unacceptable, e.g.
The success of the project was wholly dependent on the weather.