Fewer and less. Confusing the use of these two words is a common mistake.
People often use only the word 'less', forgetting about 'fewer'. The good news is
it's quite easy to correct when you know the rule: use 'fewer' when referring to
countable items; use 'less' when referring to uncountable items. Here are some items
or concepts we can count: pages, coins, goals, mistakes. If we were
to refer to any of these, we would use the word 'fewer'. For example, 'I read fewer
pages than Sandy.' 'Pam has fewer coins than Pat.' 'Fewer goals were scored tonight.'
'Kyle wants to make fewer mistakes.' Here are some things that can't be counted:
rain, milk, money, dinner. We can count cups of milk, but we can't count milk. We can
count coins, but we can't count money. This means if we were to refer to any of
these we would use the word 'less'. For example, 'I hope there is less rain today.'
'Jill was told to drink less milk.' 'Tim earned less money this year.'
'She ate less dinner than him.' See if you can complete the following sentences by
adding either 'less' or 'fewer'. Remember if you can count the object, use fewer; if
you can't, use less.
Pause here while you work.
The first needs the word 'fewer' because bookings can be counted. Perhaps there
were 5 fewer bookings than normal, or 3, or 10. 'Fewer' is also used in the second
because players can be counted.
The third needs the word 'less'. We could count liters of water, and we could count
buckets of water, but we can't count water. Number four needs the word 'fewer'-
bananas are countable. Number five needs the word 'less'- sand can't be counted.
Grains of sand could, as could buckets of sand, but we can't count sand. The last
one also needs the word 'less'. Space can't be counted. There are some exceptions to
this rule, particularly when referring to time and weight, however many of these
exceptions are taken care of if we think about the rule in a slightly different way:
less is used for singular nouns, whereas fewer is used for plural nouns.
'Ten kilometres is a long way to run.' Notice we use the word 'is'. We don't say
'Ten kilometres are a long way to run.' Kilometres is an example of a singular
noun. So even though kilometres are countable, kilometres is a singular noun,
therefore we use the word less. For example, 'I run less than ten kilometers'.
'Four pens are on the desk.' Pens is a plural noun. Therefore, we say 'fewer' pens.
If that's a bit tricky, just remember to use 'fewer' for countable items, and use
'less' for uncountable items. You'll be sure to make fewer grammatical errors.
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