3 ms·

I see "fewer" vs "less" has become the new "between you and I". Quote from the researcher, presumably mangled by some illiterate subeditor: "We're not saying t

• danaris 6y ago
  ....and...what's the problem? "Fewer" is correct when talking about a discrete quantity (like people). "Less" is correct when talking about a continuous quantity (like water).
  • dash2 6y ago
    But as the context shows, what they mean is not "a smaller amount of happy people". They mean "people who are less happy". Here, "less" is an adverb, and "fewer" is dead wrong.
    • danaris 6y ago
      Ah, I see. Wow, that's a weird enough error that my brain did not flag it as wrong, just assumed that it meant "fewer people."