This morning Steve Inskeep on NPR was reading a news item about bottle recycling and deposit laws that included the phrase "less than 1/4 of the bottles are recycled." He "corrected" it to "fewer than ..." My question is, "is that so-called correction correct?"
less is uncountable number
(i had less sand in my shoes then children when we returned from the shore, but still enough to make a sandy mess.)
(i put less sugar in my tea than my mother)
Fewer is countable.
we know how many bottles are sold, and how many recyled.
Fewer people attended the Harry Potter movie than expected. Grosses for Movie X were more than double that for Harry Potter.
the number of bottles or movie attendee's might be a large number, as is the number of bottles, but it is countable (and is counted, (beverage companies can tell you almost precicely how many bottles they sold (how many were dropped and exploded before sales, (stores can tell you how many where stolen..)
the numbers of grains of sand or sugar are not considered countable.. (how many grains of sugar are there in a spoonful? (does every spoonful contain the same about?)
My question is, "is that so-called correction correct?"Have a look at what
Mark Liberman blogged.
Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage is one of the best usage books I own. It gives both the prescriptive and descriptive histories and bibliographic citations. Here's the first paragraph of its entry
less, fewer:
Here is the rule as it is usually encountered: fewer refers to number among things that are counted, and less refers to quantity or amount among things that are measured. This rule is simple enough and easy enough to follow. It has only one fault -- it is not accurate for all usage. If we were to write the rule from the observation of actual usage, it would be the same for fewer: fewer does refer to number among things that are counted. However, it would be different for less: less refers to quantity or amount among things that are measured and to number among things that are counted. Our amended rule describes the actual usage of the past thousand years or so.
yeah, what i said! (well almost!)
Then, even if you accept the prescrip fewer/less rule, there's the question of whether it's grammar by meaning or grammar by form. If you're saying it's fifty-two million, nine hundred ninety-four thousand, five hundred twenty-four bottles and fewer than thirteen million, two hundred forty-eight thousand, six hundred thirty-one of them are recycled, then it's definitely "fewer." But if you say one-quarter, you're not really counting, you're measuring, so it should be "less."
Hier gevangen U opnieuw, Branny!
