Use 'Less' and 'Fewer' Correctly

People often use the words less and fewer interchangeably, but they have slightly different meanings. Using the correct vocabulary makes your writing more sophisticated.

Do you know which of the following sentences are correct?

There were fewer people there than I expected.

There were less people there than I expected.

The first sentence is the correct one. People is a plural noun so we need to use the word 'fewer'. Another way of looking at it is to decide whether the noun can be counted or not. People can be counted, so the correct word is 'fewer'.

If something can't be counted or has no plural, then we use the word 'less'.

You should eat less salt. (We talk about salt as one thing rather than counting each individual grain.)

My sister has less free time now she is studying. ('Free time' has no plural.)

Over the course of this worksheet, we will practise choosing whether to use 'fewer' or 'less', in different sentences.