October 6, 2014
New Post on Visual Thesaurus: Less Usage Problems
I have a new post on Visual Thesaurus, and this one’s open to non-subscribers:
The distinction between less and fewer is one of the most popular rules in the peevers’ arsenal. It’s a staple of lists of grammar rules that everyone supposedly gets wrong, and sticklers have pressured stores into changing their signs from “10 items or less” to “10 items or fewer.” Students have it drilled into their heads that fewer is for things you can count while less is for things you can’t. But there’s a problem: the rule as it’s commonly taught is wrong, and it’s dulling our sense of what’s actually right.