Less/Fewer, Amount/Number. Why do people misuse them all the time?

[Nanny0gg]

It's not hard - one is used for countable items, the other isn't.

And if you use the wrong one it actually sounds wrong!

And the number of teachers who don't know the difference...

AAAaaaaaargggghh!

Oh I so agree!
But they're no better on the Beeb news so is there any hope?

Thank you for posting in the correct place, but isn't life too less/short/fewer?

Life is never to short to get things write/wright/rite/ right

Less than 25% of Brits follow health advice to eat fish twice a week, so we asked MNers to try the Young's Twice-a-Week challenge. Here's the...

On the Homepage of this very website! (which I confess I rarely look at!)

I think it's because 'less' is just easier to say than 'fewer'. It's got one less fewer syllable. Not an excuse, jsut a likely reason.

Goes back to the old supermarket thing of 'five items or less'. Grr.

Life is never too/to/two/2 short!

The National Curriculum for mathematics uses one more and one less....

I get them wrong because I don't know the rule. DH has since patronised me tried to explain and I can usually remember after a minute but it's so ingrained I get it wrong. Fewer sounds "posh" to me

I went to a rubbish school that didn't teach grammar. I remember our English teacher panicking before our gcses trying to teach us

It's true, a less/fewer mistake absolutely jumps out at me. It's so obvious.

I've now trained DH, and even he spots them and shouts at the TV when people get it wrong.

Iggly, allow me:

You use "fewer" when there are countable/discrete items, such as people, hats, reasons etc.

You use "less" when it is a mass of something that cannot be separated into items, such as money, joy, gravy etc.

Remember the TV ad for razors: "Fewer strokes, less irritation." Correct - hooray!

I get them wrong because I don't know the rule. DH has since patronised me tried to explain and I can usually remember after a minute but it's so ingrained I get it wrong. Fewer sounds "posh" to me

I went to a rubbish school that didn't teach grammar. I remember our English teacher panicking before our gcses trying to teach us

Whoops - what a delayed double post!

Fewer strokes, less irritation - yes that's a great way to remember thank you CointreauVersial. DH did explain the counting thing but I need a snappy way of remembering as that's how my brain works.

I can't ever remember which is which, I know the rule but then forget which way round it is and it doesn't just sound wrong to me.

Please can one of you come up with a handy memory aid and I'll promise to teach it to everyone I know!

If you can count it, it's 'fewer', if you can't, it's less. Same with number (countable) and amount (not).
Fewer chairs, less furniture. Number of chairs, amount of furniture, works for me.

And the maths curriculum with one more/one less has driven me nuts for years!
Years I tell you!