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Side note, but I've noticed how less/fewer confusion has ceased being considered a grammatical error. Interesting since pg has previously stated how important g
by starpilot 7y ago
Side note, but I've noticed how less/fewer confusion has ceased being considered a grammatical error. Interesting since pg has previously stated how important good writing is, and the YC app contained the same error.
- everybodyknows 7y agoCase in point: Whole Foods in the pre-Amazon, MacKay era had "Ten Items or Fewer" signage at checkstands. A few weeks after the sale, it was "Ten Items or Less".
- mkl 7y agoIt was never actually a grammatical error. The idea that it was "in fact arose as an incorrect generalization of a personal preference expressed by a grammarian in 1770." [1] Less has been used for countable things at least as far back as Alfred the Great in 888 CE [1], i.e. before English was English. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_versus_less https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_versus_less
- starpilot 7y agoInteresting. Lies my teacher told me.