Fewer or Less?
Dave from
Traverse City, Michigan, asked about the proper use of less and fewer. It's a
question that has come up before, but the last time I covered it in this blog was
about 8 years ago. Since it is a frequent question on my radio program, I'll
cover it again.
The
general rule for the difference between less and few/fewer is this:
- (1) Use few/fewer to describe things that can
be counted—fewer cigarettes, fewer cars, fewer jobs.
- (2) Use less to describe things that cannot be
counted—less smoking, less traffic, less employment.
However, to be fair, in idiomatic
English—and more and more in formal usage—less is being used with a plural noun
denoting time, amount (including percentage), or distance:
- There are less than two minutes to play in the
game.
- She makes less than $40,000 a year.
- Less than 2% of the population has celiac
disease.
- We have less than three miles to go.
In other words, sometimes
separate, countable elements (which would normally need the word fewer) are treated as an unbroken unit
and the word less is then acceptable.
Until the dust settles, play it safe and follow rules one and two above. But
don’t be surprised to see the words used interchangeably; their use is in
transition.
Listen to Mike’s program in real
time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com
and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll
also find about a month’s worth of podcasts there under The Ron Jolly Show.
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