Fewer vs Less? Which Is It?
Less or Fewer?
One of my grammatical pet peeves is the wrong usage of "less" when the proper word is "fewer." I see so-called professional advertisements on TV all the time that get it wrong. I see sports announcers get it wrong. News reporters get it wrong too. Every time I see "less" used for "fewer" I wince. It's not hard to know which word is correct in any situation if you know the key. Using the wrong word shows me that whoever wrote and whoever is using it either doesn't know the proper usage or is just being lazy. Neither way is professional.
Disclaimer: If it has become accepted to use the two terms interchangeably since I got out of school then I take it all back. Someone let me know it that's the case. Anyway...
Here's the simple key to knowing which word is correct in any situation: If you can count it, then the proper word is "fewer." If you can't, the proper word is "less."
Examples: There is less air in the room. There are fewer air molecules in the room.
There is less advertising on this channel. There are fewer commercials on this channel.
Can you count air? Nope, you can't say "How many airs are there?" But you can count air molecules (even though it would be hard). Each molecule is a finite, individual item.
Advertising is also an abstract concept, commercials are finite, individual items too.
Get the picture?
I or Me?
Now for my next grammatical pet peeve. People seem to have forgotten which personal pronoun to use when talking or doing something with another person. Which of the sentences below is right?
"Bill and me are going to the movies," or "Bill and I are going to the movies?" How about "Me and Bill are going to the movies?"
How about "Sarah is going to the movies with Bill and I?" Or is it "Sarah is going to the movies with Bill and me?"
They can't all be right. Again, there's a simple key.
The key is to eliminate the person you are with and then the correct pronoun for you alone is the correct pronoun for you with another person. Using the examples above, "Bill and me are going to the movies." Take Bill out, and you have "Me am going to the movies," which is obviously wrong.
Take Bill out of "Bill and I are going to movies," and you have "I am going to the movies," which is correct. So, "Bill and I are going to the movies." is correct grammatically.
Now let's look at Sarah, Bill, and me. A lot of people think that, "Sarah is going to the movies with Bill and I," is correct. Eliminate Bill again, and "Sarah is going to the movies with I," is incorrect. It sounds dumb. In that sentence, "I" should be replaced with "me." "Sarah is going to the movies with Bill and me." That's grammatically correct.
In any sentence, if you go over the sentence again in your mind without the "sidekick," you will be able to choose the correct pronoun.
Whew! I'm glad I got that off my chest! Now my WA friends and I can write more professionally.
Let's all go out and WIN THE DAY!
I'm Grant
Recent Comments
20
I think we are old school...I learned those keys in grammar class way back when. I'm not even sure they teach it anymore and unfortunately it all becomes acceptable when it's used often enough. Social media doesn't encourage proper grammar....dumbing down of society. Too bad.
Debbie
Agreed. The "I or Me" is definitely one of my pet peeves. I realise however that language is changing, since often when I point something like this out to younger people, they just stare back blankly. I think the blank stares annoy me even more. Ah the joys of getting older huh?
~Mark
I usually try to be grammatically correct but I also like to be friendly when I'm writing. Even though the following sentence is incorrect, it sounds natural:
"Here's some videos to watch."
The correct sentence would be:
"Here are some videos to watch."
But the incorrect version sounds more natural, at least to my ears.
I think that I might say "here's some videos..." simply because I am so accustomed to hearing it, but I don't think I could ever write it.
Aaah! But since I've been using websites I've been training myself to write like I talk. And that has been rather difficult for me.
Yeah, it does. It even sounds better than "Here're some videos to watch." I guess it's one of those phrases that have become universally accepted.
Hi, Grant
wonderful
As i understand, fewer is only to be used when discussing countable things, while less is used for singular mass nouns.
For example, you can have fewer ingredients, dollars, people, or puppies, but less salt, money, honesty, or love. If you can count it, go for fewer, am i right?
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Thanks for this, Grant. Great reminders for us all.
I used to work as an academic writing tutor at the college level. It would take a small novel to describe all the grammar miscues I have seen over the years. My head still hurts thinking about them.
Joshua
You'd think college level writers would be polished.
You would think so. But, I am referring mostly to freshmen just out of high school starting college. A far, far cry from being polished.
Joshua
Copy that.