Less vs. Fewer
Even though I know the difference, I made this grammar mistake recently, and thought it merited re-posting.
Use the word less for uncountable items: I ate less Jell-o than he did.
Use fewer for items you can count: I ate fewer French fries than she did.
This means that every single sign in stores that reads “x items or less” is incorrect. Instead it should read “x items or fewer,” as Mrs. Incandenza campaigned for in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
Related: the same rule holds for amount and number. Use amount for things that can’t be counted, like water, and number for things that can, like people.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 pm
How about rice? Do you use fewer grains of rice to make less rice?
Why in math is x less than y even when both x and y are countable?
For an encore, how about further and farther?
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Farther is for a measurable distance: his house is farther from the store than mine is.
Further is for metaphorical use: she has come further in her recovery than anyone expected.
And while grains are countable, a serving of rice isn’t, so that holds.
You’re on your own with the math stuff. I just finished reading about Bertrand Russell trying to figure out concrete foundations for math and philosophy. I found it all rather silly.