There are people who do not distinguish between less and fewer, they use them indistinctly, or they use less on all occasions. Well, there is a difference between them.
- Less is the comparative form of little, used before uncountable nouns. However, fewer is the comparative of few, used before plural nouns.
- “I earn less money than a minister”
- “You have fewer friends than you used to have”
We have to say that using less before plural nouns as well as uncountable nouns, especially in an informal style is accepted. Nevertheless, I would never use it in a formal style or when taking an exam. In fact, there are people who consider it is incorrect.
2. We can also use them with the preposition We use this preposition before determiners such as the, my or this, or before pronouns.
- “He would really like to spend less of his time working abroad”
- “There are fewer of us at these committees”.
3. Before nouns without determiners, we don’t use OF.
- “If you want to lose weight, eat less food”. (NOT….. less of food)
- “Fewer people go to the cinema these days”. (NOT ….. fewer of people)
4. Nouns can be dropped after less and fewer if the meaning is clear.
- “Some people buy the newspaper, but less/fewer than 20 years ago”.
5. We can use less as an adverb (the opposite of the adverb more).
- “I worry less than I used to”.
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