Grammar Celebrates Chinese New Year

Number or Amount?

Use number when the noun you are referring to is countable (snowballs, students, days until your birthday).

Use amount when referring to something that cannot be counted (snow, peanut butter, laughter).

Chinese New Year is also known as Spring Festival and Lunar New Year. The holiday lasts for about 15 days and is celebrated in many Asian countries and by more than a billion people around the world.

Chinese New Year, which this year begins February 5, honors the coming of spring and is a time when loved ones come together for food, fireworks, and other festivities. Each year, enormous numbers/amounts of people travel to their hometowns or take a trip. In fact, this annual travel rush is among the largest movements of people on Earth.

The origins of Chinese New Year go back thousands of years. According to legend, a monster named Nian (NEE-yahn) would attack villages at the start of each year. No number/amount of fighting or pleading could stop the bloodthirsty creature. Then one year, the villagers discovered that loud noises and the color red frightened the beast, so they used those things to chase it away

Since then, people celebrate the victory over Nian at the beginning of each new year. This is why you’ll see a large number/amount of red in decorations and clothing, as well as loud fireworks and firecrackers, in Chinese New Year festivities.

Chinese New Year celebrations involve many symbolic traditions. For example, a major number/amount of housecleaning is done to sweep away any bad luck from the past year.

The food has meaning too. Long noodles stand for long life. A whole fish symbolizes family unity. Dumplings represent prosperity. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat, the more money you will make in the coming year. (Warning: Feasting on large numbers/amounts of dumplings may cause a stomachache!)