Advanced Details: Less & Fewer

“Less” and “fewer” both indicate a smaller quantity, but they are used with different types of nouns. To use “less” and “fewer” correctly, we must pay attention to whether the nouns they are used with are countable (usually we can add “-s” for the plural noun) or uncountable (“-s” cannot be used for the plural noun).

“Fewer” is used with countable nouns (things you can count, like “duties,” “pipes,” “uniforms,” or “personnel”), while “less” is used with uncountable nouns (things you cannot count individually, like “water,” “time,” “equipment,” or “information”). ​