Tuesday 7 February 2012

GRAMMAR: Less or fewer?

I enjoy watching BBC1's Pointless at tea time but Alexander Armstrong drives me nuts with his incorrect use of 'less' when he should be using 'fewer' - here's some tips to help you remember which to use.


FEWER should be used when the items can be counted.
LESS should be used for general, not coutable, descriptions.

*There was less sand which meant there were fewer grains of sand.
*There were fewer raindrops, so there was less rain.

FEWER is used when referring to things in plural.

*As more people read the news online, people are buying fewer newspapers.
*Fewer than 20 children returned their reply slip on time.
 
LESS is used if items can't be counted or can't be pluralized.

*I spend less time reading these days.
*I seem to have less money spare at the end of the month.
 
LESS is also used with numbers that are on their own and with expressions of measurement or time.
 
*Their relationship lasted less than two years.
*His diet was a great success, he went from 15 stone to less than 11.

 
So, Mr. Armstrong, the contestants need to score fewer points than the other contestants, not less points!

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