Fewer and less

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Fewer is one of those words that seems to be disappearing. I don’t know if it is a case of ‘if in doubt, just use less’ or it’s because people simply forget that it exists. Fewer does fulfil a role that less does not, though, so if you want to get it right here is a basic explanation and some tips to help you.

Explanation of the difference:
Use fewer and fewer than when referring to discrete things that can be counted (countable nouns) – e.g. fewer people, children, days, coins, fields.
Use less and less than when referring to a singular or mass (uncountable) noun – e.g. less humanity, food, time, money, land.

Two tips to help you remember:
1) Remember a phrase like this – fewer facts; less learning.
2) Apply this test: if you can add a number directly in front of the word and the phrase makes sense – e.g. 5 gold rings – then you should use fewer or fewer than; if it does not make sense – e.g. 5 money – then use less or less than. (If you said 5 bags of money, you would use fewer because the 5 makes sense when placed directly in front of the words bags.)

Here is where it gets slightly more complicated:
Use less and less than when referring to a number on its own and with specified expressions of time, money or measurement – e.g. the journey took less than three hours; she had less than two pounds in her purse; he lost less than ten pounds in weight.

A final tip:
3) Remember a phrase like this: less than two hours’ revision = fewer facts + less learning.

Its or it’s

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If it’s a perennial worry working out when to use its or it’s, then here’s a tip that I hope will work its magic for you.

Simply clear your mind of all previous advice and follow these two steps:

a) look at the sentence in front of you; and,
b) say it to yourself, inserting it is in place of its or it’s.

If your sentence still makes sense when you add it is, then visualise the apostrophe replacing the second i. Another way of remembering is this: if it makes no sense to add is, it makes no sense to add an apostrophe.

For example,

Original sentence:  How can you tell if its/it’s the correct word?
Sentence check:     How can you tell if it is the correct word?
Correct sentence:   How can you tell if it’s the correct word?

Original sentence:  How can you tell if its/it’s spelling is correct?
Sentence check:      How can you tell if it is spelling is correct?
Correct sentence:   How can you tell if its spelling is correct?

You and I or you and me?

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If you struggle to remember whether to use I or me in sentences, here’s an easy way of working it out: Repeat the sentence to yourself as if you were the only person in it.

Here are two examples:-

Original sentence:                     This would be a great present for Graham and (I or me).
Sentence with only you:           This would be a great present for me.
Correct complete sentence:    This would be a great present for Graham and me.

Original sentence:                     It would be lovely if Fiona and (I or me) could join you.
Sentence with only you:           It would be lovely if I could join you.
Correct complete sentence:    It would be lovely if Fiona and I could join you.

For those of you who may be interested in the grammar behind it, I and me are personal pronouns. I is used when the person is the subject of the sentence, me when the person is the object.