“What do we want?“
“Less grammatical errors!“
“When do we want them?“
“We meant fewer!“
Ah, the wonderful conflict between less and fewer. The number of times these two words have been used incorrectly is astounding. I’m sure everyone has at some point in their lives seen supermarket signs reading “10 items or less”. I’m also pretty sure that significantly fewer people have had the urge to correct the sign to read “10 items or fewer”. Even though that would be the right thing to do.
The handy picture above (from here) gives a succinct definition of when each word can be used. Oxford Dictionaries provides a good explanation of when to use less and when to use fewer. In summary:
Use fewer if you’re referring to people or things in the plural (e.g. houses, newspapers, dogs, students, children).
Use less when you’re referring to something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural (e.g. money, air, time, music, rain).
Having read this, hopefully fewer people will now utilise less and fewer incorrectly! Onwards!
