Is "hundreds of millions" different from "millions of hundreds"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Yes, these phrases are different. However, "millions of hundreds" sounds very odd and unnatural in English and is not used. It also does not make sense. When a person says "hundreds of millions," it gives the listener an accurate picture of how many people, items, etc. there are. In this video, "hundreds of millions" gives me an idea of how many people use public transportation daily. I know that over one hundred million people use public transportation and that the amount is almost uncountable because it's in the millions. If you say, "millions of hundreds" that will confuse listeners. It almost seems as though there are not very many people who use public transportation. It's better to just say "hundreds of millions." Ex: The company made over one hundred billion in revenue this year. Ex: There are hundreds of millions of people here! Ex: Hundreds of millions of people fly in airplanes every year.
