ninafe
10-14-2006, 04:37 AM
Dear Teachers and friends,
I often fail to identify whether a noun is to be regarded as uncountable (quantity, amount, sum) or countable (number), and therefore the correct usage of less and few sometimes is really tricky to me.
from www.grammar.ccc.commnet.edu
We do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions:
-It's less than twenty miles to Dallas.
-He's less than six feet tall.
-Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
-We spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
-The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.
In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.
Danmahaffey once also explained it :
While gallon (for example) may be very countable in many situations, and while it forms a plural by adding s, it also has a very decided uncountable sense as well. For example, it is virtually impossible to delineate one gallon from another in a barrel. In fact, the reckoning of volume is not so much a matter of counting as a matter of measuring, so that actual volume is almost always some mixed number such as 54.321 gallons.
In the face of measurements such as these, one is obligated to say that one container holds less gallons than another (gallons being uncountable) rather than fewer gallons. Similarly, this holds true for miles, hours, pounds, degrees, dollars, volts, and so forth, when the individual items cannot be singly and discretely identified.
And I’ve found it on www.bartleby.com
It is, however, correct to say, "The signers of the petition were less than a hundred,’’ where the round number, a hundred, is something like a collective noun, and less is thought of as meaning a less quantity or amount.
Well, I can understand it (or at least I’m trying). Then in the following expression from LDOCE ‘200 inhabitants’ is definitely a number:
-a village of fewer (NOT less) than 200 inhabitants
If I rewrite as follows, will it be appropriate to use lees and fewer like below?
-a petition of fewer that 1000 sings
- The inhabitants of the village were less than 200.
I’m also quite puzzled about this:
From www.grammar.ccc.commnet.edu
The managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called express lanes from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer." Whether that's an actual improvement, we'll leave up to you.
So, was it an actual improvement and how far can I go?
Sorry for a little awkward question.
Thanks a lot!
I often fail to identify whether a noun is to be regarded as uncountable (quantity, amount, sum) or countable (number), and therefore the correct usage of less and few sometimes is really tricky to me.
from www.grammar.ccc.commnet.edu
We do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions:
-It's less than twenty miles to Dallas.
-He's less than six feet tall.
-Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
-We spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
-The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.
In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.
Danmahaffey once also explained it :
While gallon (for example) may be very countable in many situations, and while it forms a plural by adding s, it also has a very decided uncountable sense as well. For example, it is virtually impossible to delineate one gallon from another in a barrel. In fact, the reckoning of volume is not so much a matter of counting as a matter of measuring, so that actual volume is almost always some mixed number such as 54.321 gallons.
In the face of measurements such as these, one is obligated to say that one container holds less gallons than another (gallons being uncountable) rather than fewer gallons. Similarly, this holds true for miles, hours, pounds, degrees, dollars, volts, and so forth, when the individual items cannot be singly and discretely identified.
And I’ve found it on www.bartleby.com
It is, however, correct to say, "The signers of the petition were less than a hundred,’’ where the round number, a hundred, is something like a collective noun, and less is thought of as meaning a less quantity or amount.
Well, I can understand it (or at least I’m trying). Then in the following expression from LDOCE ‘200 inhabitants’ is definitely a number:
-a village of fewer (NOT less) than 200 inhabitants
If I rewrite as follows, will it be appropriate to use lees and fewer like below?
-a petition of fewer that 1000 sings
- The inhabitants of the village were less than 200.
I’m also quite puzzled about this:
From www.grammar.ccc.commnet.edu
The managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called express lanes from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer." Whether that's an actual improvement, we'll leave up to you.
So, was it an actual improvement and how far can I go?
Sorry for a little awkward question.
Thanks a lot!