Fewer vs Less - Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

[ummerrahh]

In grammar, the tail wags the dog.

[plushoo]

I love that the top two comments both have errors: "truth be said" instead of "truth be told", and "here" instead of "hear".

[thekkl]

@plushoo What's wrong with truth be said?

[luminorguy]

Emily, you can correct my grammar any day of the week! Beautiful lady, wonderful voice, and a highly intelligent mind; the trifecta of killer combos! : D

[jstuart22]

emily is so pretty



[KeithGYu]

does this also apply to more than v. over?

[BomberAl123]

If I say how attractive, smart and fun the presenter is, like the other two guys did, will my comment be posted? ;-)

[BomberAl123]

I'm not sure how they teach this in the States, but an easy way to remember the distinction is the following:

Fewer is used for discrete variables, and less for continuous variables and those variables perceived as continuous.

For example: 'I have fewer pound coins than you' vs. 'I have less money than you'.

Time and distance are clearly continuous, and money (although a cent is the smallest unit) and statistical enumerations (you can't divide people or words) are perceived as continuous.

[roguenation]

It seems fitting that Emily Brewster's video appears when one looks up the following:

god·dess noun

Definition of GODDESS

1: a female god

2: a woman whose great charm or beauty arouses adoration

[pegasusgiraffe]

@roguenation just like Athena, the brainiest of the Olympians

[Maoya07]

What you talked about seems to apply to daily conversation. What's the exact rule we should follow when taking exams?

[wenaolong]

Or, could it in some cases be that the cases where saying "fewer" is avoided is because the amount is not considered "few" in our consideration of it, or in the chief light in which we are discussing it, so that to say "fewer" has a strange sound to it. Miles seem long, years seem long, populations seem huge, and the amount referred to is left unspecified, so it seems that less "sounds more natural" perhaps for these reasons. What do you think?

[wenaolong]

It seems that the special property of those counted amounts are that they are demarcations of something such that the amount stated exists as a point at which something seems to have a property or not. A country has a population only when it is stated as "less" than a given amount (this less is unspecified, and is more of an unknown amount than anything counted). The same for dollar amounts, distances, etc. We don't say fewer because the amount that is being considered is spoken of vaguely?

[kpeavey1]

She's kinda cute but is way overthinking it.

[canadafreakazoid]

last moment at the end of the video, you here someone say 'cut'

[marlonguitarist]

I love Emily's explanations. She is so knowledgeable and truth be said, a very attractive intellectual. Great video.

[kemct]

@marlonguitarist Kory is also a very attractive and fun editor, I suggest you check some her explanations.