Recently, I keep correcting myself for my use of less and fewer (or incorrect use, thereof).
This led me to think, if I, very nearly the owner of English Language degree (fingers crossed), often get it wrong then how can people who aren't clued up on grammar be expected to get it right?!
Naturally, I've taken it upon myself (because apparently I'm a bit conceited and think I know everything ha ha) to clear it up. This started with a Google search which returned several useful links, including an old article about grammar use by Tesco. Albeit a rather old article (dated 2008) the contents still help contextualise these grammar rules...
The article argues that phrases like "10 items or less" are grammatically incorrect.
But, what is correct?
It should be "10 items or fewer" (sounds weird, right?)
According to the Oxford Dictionary, both less and fewer are antonyms of more, and are defined as a small number of something. However, they are used differently in a sentence. I clearly remember an English teacher telling me: fewer is countable, less is not.
In other words, fewer should be used to talk about items that can be counted individually - people, biscuits or shoes.
fewer = not as many
"fewer than 5 people turned up"
Whereas, less is used for quantities that cannot be counted individually - often used to talk about liquid.
less = not as much
"I'll have less soup next time"
It is common for less to be substituted for fewer in colloquial speech. And with spoken English changing so much faster than written English, it is not unexpected that the ungrammaticality eventually transfers into writing - as is evidenced with the example of supermarket pricing.
In the article, Marie Clair provides the example:
"less than six weeks" and "fewer than six weeks"
There is confusion here because the two seem interchangeable; we are talking about a period of time, rather than six individual weeks. Is this countable?
And is it really that difficult to remember ?
"There were fewer people in the shops because there was less money."
What grammar rules confuse you? And which ones do you think are ridiculous?
Please comment below.
Read the article about Tesco here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7591905.stm
Previous blog post:
https://georgi3porgi3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/sticky-toffee-copy-how-to-write-copy.html
Comments
Post a Comment