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Originally Posted by Glinda
(Post 1017358)
Of note, "Less people are getting married . . . "
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From Merriam-Webster:
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The traditional view is that less applies to matters of degree, value, or amount and modifies collective nouns, mass nouns, or nouns denoting an abstract whole while fewer applies to matters of number and modifies plural nouns. Less has been used to modify plural nouns since the days of King Alfred and the usage, though roundly decried, appears to be increasing. Less is more likely than fewer to modify plural nouns when distances, sums of money, and a few fixed phrases are involved. "ess than 100 miles" "an investment of less than $2000" "in 25 words or less" and "as likely as fewer to modify periods of time". "in less (or fewer) than four hours"
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There's a commonly repeated rule about fewer and less. It goes like this: fewer is used to refer to number among things that are counted, as in "fewer choices" and "fewer problems"; less is used to refer to quantity or amount among things that are measured, as in "less time" and "less effort."
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Less has been used this way for well over a thousand years—nearly as long as there's been a written English language. But for more than 200 years almost every usage writer and English teacher has declared such use to be wrong. The received rule seems to have originated with the critic Robert Baker, who expressed it not as a law but as a matter of personal preference. Somewhere along the way—it's not clear how—his preference was generalized and elevated to an absolute, inviolable rule.
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In short, it just does not matter. Only thing that matters: is what the author is saying understood? IEEE Spectrum once wrote an article about English Nazis. They misspelled almost every word. That article was easily read and understood. English Nazis failed to censor it.
Only an author choses 'less' or 'few' based only in what he wants to say. He (not an English Nazi) chooses what he thinks best states his point.
Spelling and grammar, in rare cases, is necessary so that one who reads does not see something different from one who writes it. So better spelling, grammar, and punctuation is useful. Punctuation often more important than spelling or grammar.
Most every English teacher I had was enthralled with following the rules; could not bother with concepts such as logical thought. Another example of one entranced by what they were ordered to believe and with contempt for what is really relevant.
They were lesser thinkers. Hopefully they will become fewer. |
