Fewer vs. Less

The words fewer and less are confused just as commonly as words that sound the same, which I think happens because we’re never taught the right one to use. At least, I wasn’t when I was in grade school. Fewer and less generally mean the same thing, but one is used in conjunction with countable items and the other is used with more abstract on uncountable items. Which is which?

• John has fewer apples than Joe.
• My glass has less water than yours.

In general, fewer should always be used if a number cab be associated with the statement. For example, I could say, “There are fewer people living in my house than there are living in your house.” You could very well say, “There are five fewer people…”

You can’t do that with all nouns. In the first example I gave, I said that there was less water in a glass. You can’t count water. If you wanted to use fewer with that sentence, you’d have to make water countable in some way. For example, “My glass has fewer ounces of water than yours.”

So how can you remember the difference?

I actually remember it because of a mistake. You know how in stores you’ll see one register that is just for “10 items or less”? Well, you can count items…so it should be “10 items or fewer” NOT less. So, just remember that supermarkets and other stores everywhere are wrong.

If you want to go through the faster line, fill this cart with 10 items or FEWER. Image: sxc.hu

Do you have a better way to remember the difference? Leave a comment below.