You are correct. "Fewer" is used for things that can be counted individually (e.g. potatoes). "Less" is used for things that cannot (e.g. water).
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While that's the best simple guide, according to Grammar Girl and Grammar.com, if you wanted to be excruciatingly correct, you'd use the following:
"Overall, you've been unlucky, and won 2 fewer gifts than estimated since you first joined."
"Overall, you've been unlucky, and won 1 less gift than estimated since you first joined."
According to them, the rule is to use fewer for countable plural nouns but less for a singular noun, countable or collective, which could lead to the rule tripping you up - though it's mostly only of concern because people might try to correct you in singular countable instances.
Another aspect is that in spite of 'chunkable' units, amorphous things like time and water will still use "less." For example, you would say "less than four years" and "less than four gallons of water" because, even though you can count years or gallons, you're talking about the amount of time, which isn't counted, rather than the amount of units of time. Then again, discrete units that happen to measure time might not fit that rule - a degree that takes eight semesters means completing eight segments that measure time, where half-segments wouldn't count, so it's a case of fewer discrete units than less amorphous time. Probably. I think.
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Probably. I think.
You are correct. "This degree requires fewer semesters to complete than that one," because we are talking about the number of semesters rather than the amount of time. This is as opposed to the student who "finished the degree in less than four semesters." Thank you for sharing this information with those of us who want a fuller understanding. )
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I love you and I love this thread.
Your username is slightly accurate, but that might just be me having just woken up. :P
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Let's hope this constructive criticism helps this site to become better.
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It only applies to everyday use of the language, but not to documentation. Thankfully, documentation always uses strict linguistic and stylistic rules; for example, documentation written in US English likes to follow the Chicago Manual of Style, but that is only one of the available rulesets.
As a side effect, native English speakers are actually pretty awful at writing documentation in a way that it is clearly understandable and not ambiguous tot he reader. Hence why many companies ensure to hire foreigners for the job.
This site, well, it does not fall under the rule. Its self-documentation is pretty close to everyday English, and as we can see form the numerous threads asking for pointers and explanations, plus the almost persistent levels of misunderstandings of some rules, it is pretty far from ideal.
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Prescriptivist poppycock. In fact, "X fewer gifts" sounds overly formal, even if not technically wrong. We shouldn't change it just to appease people who think things can (or must) be boiled down into simplistic rules that way, even if it would mean one less thing to worry about.
Note how less can be substituted for fewer informally; the reverse is not true. You can't drink *fewer water or breathe *fewer air, but you can have less worries, even if you could also have fewer worries.
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Fewer is used less than less to signify that less of something is there.
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very interesting because i didn't know and I usually use 'less' no matter what.
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There's something like this in the starting screen of one of the games I bought recently. Maybe "Renowned Explorers". Bugs me every time I see it, but obviously not to remember exactly what it was.
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Ha, I have this argument with my partner all the time. She argues for "common usage", while I stick to my guns on the correct meaning of the words.
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You learnt that from Stannis Baratheon didn't you?
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well spotted
you might enjoy this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc :)
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Yup, I noticed it but I'm so used to playing poorly translated Russian games that I just went "meh"
Picture well earned!
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Thanks for the suggestion HBNayr. It's been fixed.
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On the personal stats page, there is a section labelled "Luck Per Month", and if you happen to be a bit less-than-lucky like me, you might notice that the last sentence in this section reads, "Overall, you've been unlucky, and won [number] less gifts than estimated since you first joined." It's a minor quibble, but I'm fairly certain that the sentence should read, "Overall, you've been unlucky, and won [number] fewer gifts than estimated since you first joined."
Thanks for reading!
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