{"id":76,"date":"2026-11-04T12:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/fewer-or-less\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T12:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:38:20","slug":"fewer-or-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/fewer-or-less\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer or less? How to choose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Ten items or less&#8221; is one of the most argued-about signs in the supermarket. Should it say &#8220;fewer&#8221;? The answer depends on what you are counting, and on how strictly you follow the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The traditional rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rule taught in many schools is simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use <strong>fewer<\/strong> with things you can count one by one: fewer apples, fewer people, fewer mistakes.<\/li>\n\n<li>Use <strong>less<\/strong> with things you measure as an amount rather than count: less water, less time, less noise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A quick test: if the noun is plural, as in &#8220;apples&#8221;, &#8220;people&#8221; or &#8220;mistakes&#8221;, the traditional rule says fewer. If it is singular and can&#8217;t be counted, as in &#8220;water&#8221;, &#8220;traffic&#8221; or &#8220;patience&#8221;, use less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There are <strong>fewer<\/strong> cars on the road today.<\/li>\n\n<li>There is <strong>less<\/strong> traffic on the road today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both sentences describe the same quiet road. &#8220;Cars&#8221; can be counted, so it takes fewer. &#8220;Traffic&#8221; can&#8217;t, so it takes less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where the rule bends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Real English is a bit messier, and most style guides accept several exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Time, money, distance and weight.<\/strong> We count these in units, but we usually think of them as amounts. So &#8220;less&#8221; is normal and correct:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It took <strong>less than<\/strong> ten minutes.<\/li>\n\n<li>I paid <strong>less than<\/strong> \u00a320.<\/li>\n\n<li>The shop is <strong>less than<\/strong> two miles away.<\/li>\n\n<li>The parcel weighs <strong>less than<\/strong> five kilograms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying &#8220;fewer than ten minutes&#8221; would sound odd to most people, because you are thinking about a stretch of time, not ten separate minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Or less&#8221; after a number.<\/strong> Phrases like &#8220;25 words or less&#8221; are widely used and widely accepted, because they describe a limit rather than a set of separate items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Fractions and percentages.<\/strong> These follow the noun they describe: &#8220;less than half of the cake&#8221; (cake is an amount), but &#8220;fewer than half of the guests&#8221; (guests are counted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Age.<\/strong> We usually say &#8220;less than 18 years old&#8221;, or more simply &#8220;under 18&#8221;, because age is treated as an amount of time rather than a set of separate years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;One less&#8221;.<\/strong> &#8220;One less thing to worry about&#8221; is an established idiom, and few people would change it to &#8220;one fewer&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So what about the supermarket sign?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the traditional rule, &#8220;ten items or fewer&#8221; is correct, because items are counted. Some shops have changed their signs to say exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But &#8220;less&#8221; with countable nouns has been used in English for a very long time, long before anyone made a rule about it. The strict fewer\/less rule is usually traced back to an 18th-century writer who said he thought &#8220;fewer&#8221; sounded more elegant. It grew into a school rule from there. So &#8220;ten items or less&#8221; isn&#8217;t nonsense. It&#8217;s just informal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In practice: use fewer with countable nouns in careful writing, such as essays, reports and job applications. In casual speech, nobody should be judged for saying &#8220;less&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The mirror pair: many and much<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same split shows up in other words, which can help you remember it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Many<\/strong> and <strong>few<\/strong> go with countable nouns: many books, few chances.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Much<\/strong> and <strong>little<\/strong> go with uncountable nouns: much effort, little time.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Number of<\/strong> goes with countable nouns, <strong>amount of<\/strong> with uncountable ones: the number of visitors, the amount of rain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you would say &#8220;many&#8221;, you probably want &#8220;fewer&#8221;. If you would say &#8220;much&#8221;, you probably want &#8220;less&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I&#8217;ve had ___ headaches since I started drinking more water.<\/li>\n\n<li>You should use ___ salt in that recipe.<\/li>\n\n<li>The journey takes ___ than an hour.<\/li>\n\n<li>___ than twenty people came to the meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Answers:<\/strong> 1. fewer 2. less 3. less 4. Fewer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The takeaway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Can you count it? Use fewer. Do you measure it? Use less. And when it comes to time, money, distance and weight, &#8220;less&#8221; is perfectly fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Ten items or less&#8221; is one of the most argued-about signs in the supermarket. Should it say &#8220;fewer&#8221;? The answer depends on what you are counting, and on how strictly you follow the rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/definitionofthe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}