Fewer vs less
Use fewer before plural nouns for things you can count, like fewer cars. Use less for an amount you do not count one by one, like less water.
fewer determiner
A smaller number of people or things. It goes before plural nouns.
- No fewer than three hundred people signed the petition in its first hour.
- This year there are fewer students in each class.
less determiner
A smaller amount of something, not as much.
- Engineers used less concrete in the revised foundation.
- Try to spend less time on your phone before bed.
Watch out
- Using less with countable plural nouns, as in less volunteers, is common in speech but counted as nonstandard. In careful writing, use fewer.Fewer than a dozen volunteers turned up despite the weather.
- Less is used with distances and other measurements, even when there is a number.Less than ten miles of track remained unfinished.
- Less can also mean minus, when an amount is taken away.The settlement totaled forty thousand dollars, less legal fees.
Test yourself
There were blank cars on the road during the holiday.
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fewer. Cars can be counted, and cars is a plural noun.
You should add blank sugar to the recipe next time.
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less. Sugar is an amount, not a number of separate things.
The new bulbs use blank electricity than the old ones.
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less. Electricity is an amount you do not count one by one.
We had blank problems with the new software.
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fewer. Problems can be counted, so use fewer before the plural noun.