Mea Culpa: measuring a quantity of soldiers

Questions of style and language in last week’s Independent, reviewed by John Rentoul

Boris Johnson sets off for Ukraine to offer military help (PA)

We reported on the prime minister’s attempt to deter a further Russian incursion in Ukraine, saying that Nato was considering a new British offer, “which could see double the amount of military personnel sent to the region…” Thanks to Philip Nalpanis for pointing out that “amount” usually refers to quantities; we meant “number”. While we are here, however, we should also note the use of the flabby “inanimate objects seeing things” construction. We could simply have referred to the offer “to double the number of military personnel sent to the region”.

Contact the Four Tops: We used the American phrase “reached out” a few times last week, as in “The Independent has reached out to [Thandiwe] Newton’s representatives for comment.” As Paul Edwards reminded me, our style is “contacted”. But he headed his email “I’ll be there”, and now I have the Four Tops stuck in my head.

Stuck in the middle: I haven’t complained about “amid” for at least a week, and we had some grating uses of it last week. We reported that on Monday, “wind energy accounted for an average of 49 per cent of the nation’s electricity over the previous 24 hours amid gusts of up to 90mph”. That makes it sound as if the electricity generation was happening while a storm was raging all around, possibly even despite it, rather than “because of” or “thanks to” the gusts.