Less vs. Fewer

This article was originally published in Arizona State University's Online Study Hub. Content has been redistributed with permission from the university. ASU students can access the original resource here.

"Less" and "fewer" both refer to a smaller amount of something, but they are used in slightly different ways.

Less

“Less” is used when there is a decreased amount of something that cannot be counted.

For instance, “time” and “tolerance” are not objects you can individually count. Even “money” is considered uncountable: while a person can count dollars or coins, one cannot count money (incorrect usage: “I have two moneys in my pocket”).

  • The student had less time to check his grammar.

  • The professor had less tolerance towards bad writing.

  • The student now has less money after losing his scholarships.

Fewer

“Fewer” refers to a decrease in countable objects, which include tangible items like pencils and houses and abstract objects like ideas and rules (example: “I have five ideas but zero rules”).

  • After the changes, the local government had fewer rules than before.

  • The residents had fewer inhibitions and caused a fire.

  • After the fire, there were fewer houses and residents.

  • As a result, there were fewer ideas because there were fewer people.

How to tell whether or not an object is countable?

Countable objects are usually physical items or representations. In other words, if you can individually count each object, it is countable.

  • There were five hyenas.

  • There was one Henry.

  • Now there is no Henry.

Uncountable objects include items that cannot be individually parsed out. For example, there can be two bottles of water but not two “waters,” as “water” cannot be individually counted.

  • Drool dripped from the hyena’s maw.

  • Apprehension paralyzed the bystanders.

  • Water surrounded them, leaving the victims stranded and unprepared.

Everyday Usage

Despite this grammatical “rule,” everyday speech often disregards proper usage of “less” and “fewer.” In some instances, the “incorrect” usage becomes so commonplace that it becomes widely regarded as acceptable outside of an academic context.

Here are some examples of common incorrect usage that is considered acceptable in informal speech.

  • Write a paper of 500 words or less.

    Correct: Write a paper of 500 words or fewer.

  • The express checkout requires twelve items or less.

    Correct: The express checkout requires twelve items or fewer.

  • I made less mistakes than him.

    Correct: I made fewer mistakes than him.

The following examples are exceptions to the aforementioned rules. These exceptions typically occur in describing amounts instead of numbers, as indicated by “less than” instead of “less.” Common contexts include discussing distance, time, weight, or statistics. In instances like these, it is best to use whatever sounds most appropriate.

  • It was less than five years ago that we lost our home to the fire.

  • Moving to the new home became one less thing to worry about.

  • The new house is less than three miles away from our old one.

  • We were joining a neighborhood of less than 40,000 people.

Using Less and Fewer Together

  • We discovered that the town had fewer hyenas than the last one. Yet, we had less time and fewer opportunities to control their rampage, but we still had fewer problems than before.

  • The mayor explained that less than a year ago, we had less control over the wildlife but also fewer homeowners. However, I began to question his statement when I looked outside and saw fewer areas free of destruction than in the last town. We had less hope of surviving here.

Further Reading