It’s hard at times to remember the rules defining words that sound like they mean the same thing.  Take “less” and “fewer.”  On hearing either of those words, you’ll probably picture a pie with a slice missing, or your brother’s piece of pie that’s twice as wide as yours.  News stories sometimes get these words wrong in a big way.  And I wonder how the writer cannot see or hear the difference.  Here’s the sentence from the news article:

“There is fewer coal in the mines today.”

 

Fewer – not many, a smaller number of something countable; people or things in the plural.  [If you can count the items, “one, two, three . . .” use “fewer.”]

There were fewer teenagers attending last night’s Barry Manilow concert than expected.

I prefer to own fewer jewels, but they must be of the highest quality.

 

Less – an amount smaller than another amount, smaller than before, or smaller than expected.  [If the quantity can’t be counted, use “less.”]

Sarah made less fuss about her boyfriend talking to Mariella once Sarah’s parents revealed she would be spending the summer in Paris.

There is less real cream in the grocery store brand of ice cream than in my favorite home-made recipe.

 

Here’s another look at Fewer and Less.

Wrong:

We owe fewer than $80,000 on our old mortgage.

There was less boxes of cereal left in the cupboard.

Right:

I decided to visit fewer cities on my ten-day trip.

I won less than $20 million.  I have less than thirty minutes for lunch, but that doesn’t matter because as soon as I cash this check, I’m quitting my job.

If I had fewer head colds each winter I would spend less time in the doctor’s office.

There is less coal in the mines today so big companies employ fewer miners.

 

Need a memory trick to distinguish these words?  If it’s something you can count, like gold coins, there are fewer of them than you hoped.  If it has no plural (like rain) or it’s uncountable (like time) there is less then you expected.