Proportion of/ Percentage of:

You can use the proportion of and the percentage of with countable and uncountable nouns:

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• The percentage of students that passed the exam in 2015 was 60%

• In Turkey and Ireland the proportion of expenditure on food, drinks and tobacco was substantially higher than in the other countries

• The percentage of respondents to the survey that preferred foreign holidays increased significantly in 2010.

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Using Adjectives:

You can use adjectives such as large/ significant/ substantial and small/ insignificant/ tiny with percentage of and proportion of (and the corresponding comparatives e.g. larger, smaller, more substantial etc.)

• A substantial proportion of respondents said that they preferred the colour green, 75%, while only a small proportion, 10%, preferred the colour red.

• A small percentage of visitors decided to pay for the VIP service in 2014 (10%), while a large percentage chose this option in 2015 (45%). 

• A tiny percentage of rainforest remained in 2015, at only 2% of the original forest.

(Note that in these cases we begin with the article a or an. 

Adding Adverbs:

You can also add an adverb to intensify the meaning of the adjective e.g. very, much, really, extremely.

• A very small percentage of Malaysians had a bachelor’s degree in science

• A much larger percentage of Singaporeans have a bachelor’s degree in science than Malaysians.

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Is or are?

When talking about one proportion or percentage we use is or was, and when we talk about two or more percentages or proportions we use are and were.

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• It is noticeable that in Turkey the proportion of expenditure on Food drinks and tobacco was substantially larger than in other countries.

• The proportions of expenditure on Food, drinks and tobacco in Turkey and Ireland were 32.14% and 28.91% respectively.

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Percent of/ % of:

Percent of or % of are used directly after a number. They are followed by countable or uncountable nouns.

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• 60 percent of students passed the exam in 2015

• 34% of applicants failed to pass the exam with grade C or higher

• 28 percent of land degradation was caused by deforestation.

  
  

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Amount of and number of:

The amount of is used with uncountable nouns; the number of is used with countable nouns.

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• The amount of meat consumed in China between 1985 and 2010 increased significantly.

• The amount of water in the lake dropped substantially during the summer months.

• The amount of pollution produced by coal fired power stations is greater than the amount produced by natural gas power stations.

• The number of cars in the city grew substantially between 1990 and 2010.

When we repeat the number or the amount without the corresponding noun in a comparison, it is not necessary to repeat of.

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• The number of graduates in England is far larger than the number in Switzerland.

• The amount of oil sold in January is larger than the amount sold in June.

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Using Adjectives:

Like percentages, you can use adjectives with amount of and number of such as large/ high/ significant/ substantial and small/ low/ insignificant/ tiny, and comparatives such as larger, smaller etc. With number of and amount of, you can also use limited. In all these cases we begin with ‘a’ or ‘an’. 

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• A large amount of information was stolen by the hackers.

• A smaller amount of rain fell in 2015 than in 2014.

• A substantial number of people were arrested for robbery in 2012.

• A more significant number of complaints were received about faulty products in 2012.

• A limited number of tickets were sold for the opening night. 

Two times, three times, four times larger/ higher than…:

The proportion/ the percentage/ the number/ the amount of….......was (two/ three/ four etc. times) larger than...........

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• The proportion of spending on Food and Drinks was three times larger than the spending on Clothing and Footwear.

• The amount of water released by the dam was three times larger in winter than in summer.

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• The percentage of people who said they preferred beef was four times higher than the percentage of people who said that their preference was chicken.

• The number of women in jail was two times higher in 2005 than in 1975  

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Double/ triple the... (...as):

There are two ways to use this structure:

a. There was double/ triple the percentage/ proportion/ amount/ number of………. as ……….

b. The percentage/ proportion/ amount/ number of ………. was double/ triple the percentage etc. of……….. 

(Notice that in (b) we do not use as.)

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a. Examples:

• There was double the percentage of pollution from sulphur dioxide as from smoke.

• There was triple the number of cars per person in Los Angeles as in Amsterdam.

• There was double the amount of water in the reservoir in winter as in summer.

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b. Examples:

• The proportion of land degradation caused by overgrazing was triple the amount caused by deforestation.

• The number of factories shut down in 2009 was double the number in 2016.

• The amount of pollution from sulphur dioxide was double the amount from smoke.

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Doubled/ tripled…:

We use doubled or tripled when we are talking about one proportion, percentage, number or amount (not comparing two).

• The exam pass percentage doubled between 1946 and 1986.

• The proportion of survey respondents who identified hobbies as important for happiness doubled between 1950 and 2010.

• The number of applicants for work visas tripled between 1850 and 1900.

• The amount of sulphur dioxide produced doubled from 1600 to 1800.