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The Troublesome Mystery of the Pairs of Words
I had fun writing this usage and style report for a graduate class called Copyediting. Here I’ll omit long direct quotations.
As a private investigator specializing in grammar crimes,, I was contacted to investigate the correct usage of the following troublesome word pairs, all of which were found scribbled on a scrap of paper in a murder victim’s private library:
Less/fewer
Over/More than
Between/Among
If/Whether
In behalf of/On behalf of
Less/Fewer
Off the top of my head, before opening any grammar books, I would sat hey difference between “less” and “fewer” is this: “less” is used for a quantity of something you can’t count or would have to be crazy to try counting, such as grains of sand; “fewer” is used for something that you can count, such as how many cats live with you. If you have too many cats to count, then you’re probably a hoarder and need help.
The Elements of Style (p. 51) and The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (p. 294) both agree with my interpretation. Fowler’s goes on to say that it’s improper to use less or fewer when describing numbers (pp. 294–5). That said, Fowler’s allows that there are exceptions for quantities, particularly for distance…