What’s up with “less” and “fewer”?

theyuniversity:

theyuniversity:

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In recent years, many corporations, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesco, and Mercedes-Benz, have famously struggled with the difference between “less” and “fewer.” Therefore, it is little wonder that thousands of individuals also struggle with this concept.

The rule, however, is very simple:

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This rule applies to everything except time, distance, and money. In those cases, “less” is used even though they can be counted or measured. For example,

• I spent less than 15 minutes on my essay.
• The race-car driver began to celebrate when he was less than 100 feet from the finish line.
• Luffy’s bounty is high, but it’s less than 500,000,000 ベリ.

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Simple Tip:

If you can turn a singular noun into a plural noun by adding “s,” then use “fewer”:

• car 🚘 → cars 🚘 🚗 … so, it’s fewer cars
• cat 😸 → cats 😸😼 … so, it’s fewer cats

If you can’t, then use “less”:

• oxygen → oxygens (❌) … so, it’s less oxygen
• music → musics (❌) … so, it’s less music

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We recently did a collab with our friends at Grammarly about confusing words such as “fewer” vs. “less” and “affect” vs. “effect.” Check it out here.

Let’s write right 😁😁😁