People often don’t know when to use less and when to use fewer in a sentence. Here’s how to get it right.
Less
Less means ‘a smaller amount of; not as much’.
Use less when you’re referring to something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural (e.g. money, air, time, music, rain).
Examples
- It’s a better job but they pay you less money.
- People want to spend less time in traffic jams.
- Ironically, when I’m on tour, I listen to less music.
Less is also used with numbers when they are on their own and with expressions of measurement or time, distance, ages, and sums of money:e.g.:
- His weight fell from 18 stone to less than 12.
- Their marriage lasted less than two years.
- Heath Square is less than four miles away from Dublin city centre
In sentences and phrases with ‘than’, you should use less with numbers when they are on their own:
Examples
√ His weight fell from 18 stone to less than 12.
√ A person with a score of less than 100 will have difficulty obtaining credit.
Fewer:
Fewer is the comparative form of few, so if you’re talking about a smaller number of people or things, you should use fewer with a plural noun (e.g. houses, newspapers, dogs, students, children).
Examples
- People these days are buying fewer newspapers.
- Fewer students are opting to study science-related subjects.
- Fewer than thirty children each year develop the disease.
Note:
But beware! There are several common English nouns whose plural forms don’t end in ‘s’. Some of the main ones are people, children, men, and women. As these are still plurals, you should opt for fewer and not less.
Sumary
Another way to remember the main distinction is to think along the following lines:
not as much = less
not as many = fewer