Fewer versus less

Common card · No. 488205

Fewer versus less is a debate in English grammar about the appropriate use of these two determiners. Linguistic prescriptivists usually say that fewer should only be used with plural countable nouns, and that less should be used only with uncountable nouns. This distinction was first tentatively suggested by the grammarian Robert Baker in 1770, and it was eventually presented as a rule by many grammarians since then. It can also be found in modern grammar books such as Advanced Grammar in Use as well as dictionaries such as Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. A similar proposed distinction exists for the words fewest and least. Linguistic descriptivists describe real (past and current) usage, in which the word less is used with both plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns. While the prescriptive rule for the use of the word fewer is followed in practice, the traditional rule for the use of the word less is often not. As Merriam-Webster...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Robert Baker, Public domain