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> Americans now grow more food on less acres Arrgh. We would have accepted "fewer acres" or "less acreage".
by RyanMcGreal 11y ago
> Americans now grow more food on less acres
Arrgh. We would have accepted "fewer acres" or "less acreage".
- throwaway1967 11y agoWrong. "Less" instead of "fewer" has been standard English for over 300 years.
- yarrel 11y agoApparently so but I've not heard it before and it's jarring. Everyone else is clearly marching out of step.
- pc2g4d 11y agoI always thought "less" preceded mass nouns and "fewer" preceded count nouns. "less acres" feels slightly sloppy to me. But we all understood what was meant, so maybe it doesn't matter.