6 ms·
fewer, not less
by williamsiddall 11y ago
fewer, not less
- cup 11y agoCan you explain the distinction for me?
- efm 11y agoIf you can count distinct items, use fewer. If it's a bulk quantity, use less.
- Jtsummers 11y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- kabdib 11y agoSomething that is continuous (power, water, money) use "less". Something you can count, use "fewer". No similar construct in the other direction. You say "more" of anything. English, feh! :-)
- StavrosK 11y agoI prefer "manier". "Women are bearing manier children". "More children" sounds like it's a matter of degree, like their children now contain 120% more child.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoSeriously, or are you just messing with us here? Because I don't recall having ever seen or heard "manier" used like that or "more" being interpreted only in continuous sense.
- StavrosK 11y agoIt's my invention, now I just have to get manier people to use it!
- bobbles 11y agoIt's really hard to read 'manier' without thinking 'more manly'.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- strictnein 11y agoI can hear my mom yelling that at me every time someone uses it incorrectly.
- dieterrams 11y agoThis is actually a pointless distinction to make, as evidenced by the fact that (1) nobody is actually confused by one's meaning if they use 'less' where they were supposed to use 'fewer', and (2) there is no equivalent for 'more'. Probably one of the best examples of a rule that should be dropped from the English language, imo.
- vacri 11y agoIt's a grammatical rule in the same bucket as "i before e except after c" and "possessive apostrophes on words ending with s don't get another s" "i before e" apparently has more words that violate the rule than follow it, and the possessive apostrophe rule runs opposite to spoken English: "This is James's book". The fewer/less thing is a general rule, not an ironclad one - there's plenty of examples where it sounds natural to use either. I'd also argue that with a demographic the size of Australia (~22M), the number of children in it are not feasibly countable (like grains of sand), and as such, 'less' is fine. :)
- vacri 11y agooh noes! I have fewer karma!
- vacri 11y agoApparently some people disagree with this statement, but it's correct - karma on HN is definitely countable, hence 'fewer'. Of course, it sounds stupid, but apparently the rule is ironclad, to always be followed. Which reminds me, the 'split infinitive' rule is yet another nonsense grammatical rule that is overapplied.
- jjtheblunt 11y agoNo, what was written is that the kids are born smaller. Agreed most people would "error correct" the wording.
- xiaoma 11y agoIf we're going down that route we'd might as well eliminate the letters c and x, use phonetic spelling and reverse the meanings of driveway and parkway. Until the language is remade to conform to logic though, I think it's best to learn countable and uncountable distinctions. At the very least it's an advantage not to have others underestimate you based on grammar issues in your writing.
- joeclark77 11y agoNevermind the critics. I upvoted you.