Grammar’s Cave of Glowing Goo

Number or Amount?

Use number when the noun you are referring to is countable (raindrops, friends, days until vacation).

Use amount when referring to something that cannot be counted (rain, happiness, sugar).

New Zealand is famous for dazzling caves like this one. Twinkling blue lights dangle from the ceiling, creating what looks like a starry night sky. The lights are made by glowworms, which are bioluminescent—meaning they have the ability to glow.

Each year, these caves attract a huge number/amount of visitors—and it’s easy to see why. They are nothing short of breathtaking.

The glowworm’s glow isn’t just a pretty light show. It’s part of a death trap. Here’s how it works: First, the glowworm makes a tube of snot-like mucus. Then it spits up a bunch of silky threads and hangs them from the tube. If you think that’s gross, wait until you hear what happens next. On each thread, the glowworm coughs up a considerable number/amount of sticky mucus. It places the mucus in drops, like beads on a string. When glowworms are hungry, they light up. The hungrier they are, the greater the number/amount of light they produce.

Other bugs mistake the lights for stars. They fly upward, only to get stuck in the goo. Then along comes the glowworm to gobble them up. Yum!

Glowworms look like clear gummy worms, but they actually aren’t worms. They are the larvae of an insect called the fungus gnat. There are four stages in the life cycle of the fungus gnat. First comes the egg stage, which lasts about three weeks. (Eggs are laid year-round, but the largest number/amount of eggs are laid during the winter months.) When the egg hatches, out comes the glowworm. For the next six to nine months, the glowworm eats enormous numbers/amounts of food.

Then the pupal stage starts, and the glowworm transforms into the gnat. By then, the days of snot strings are over. The gnats have no mouths and never eat. They live for only about two days—just enough time to mate and lay eggs.