Quote:
Originally Posted by afa
An interesting point. I'm not sure whether it should be. From what I understand, fewer is used when referring to an indeterminate amount of objects. So if we remove the '100' from the sentence, then it fits, i.e. "People in 2011 read fewer books than in 2001," or something like that.
Since we are mentioning a specific count, however, I think using less is acceptable.
Of course, I could be wrong. I am by no means an expert on grammar. I would be interested, though, for someone to chime in on this.
|
Fewer should be used when talking about individual items, less when talking about continuous quantities. Oddly, there isn't a similar distinction when talking about greater amounts; more is used for both.
I have less bread, or I have fewer slices of bread.
There are some notorious examples of this rule being ignored. E.g., supermarkets with their "10 items or less" checkouts, which is just awful.