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PH2: Less and Fewer — Don’t Learn to Write by TV

August 15, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

TV Has It Wrong

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Language is a changing thing. The changes first happen in conversation and eventually they become accepted in written language as well. That’s what happened with that old rule Don’t finish a sentence with a preposition.

Power Hits prove that not everything you see in print, hear in a song, or watch on TV are correct.

In this case, two words the mass media can’t seem to get right are less and fewer. So let’s settle that matter once and for all.

Count and Noncount Nouns

You probably learned that a noun is a person, place, or thing, But I’m guessing that count and noncount nouns might be new terms to you. They’re what you might expect them to be.

Things you can count: pencils, tables, trees, and computers are all count nouns.

Things that you can’t count: coffee, sky, love, and values are noncount nows.

The correct use is:

I have more or fewer count nouns.
I have more pencils. I have fewer pencils.

I have more or less noncount nouns.
I have more coffee. I have less coffee.

So that the beer commercial should say

More taste, fewer calories.

Guess the ad agency didn’t have a copyeditor.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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PWH 1: I Versus Me

Bad Boys: Every Kid Knows When to Use a Comma
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Filed Under: Content, Personal Branding, Successful Blog, Writing Tagged With: bc, blog-promotion, personal-branding, Power-Writing-for-Everyone, Power-Writing-Hits, quality_content, relevant-content

Comments

  1. Rete says

    August 15, 2006 at 8:43 AM

    Yes! That has always bugged me… along with the there, their, they’re and your, you’re issues. Make a mistake with those and it changes your whole meaning.

    Reply
  2. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 8:47 AM

    Hi Rete,
    This is one that only until recently wasn’t highlighted well enough in American schools. It’s out there now. Hopefully that will help. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Scorpia says

    August 15, 2006 at 9:20 AM

    Good for you, Liz. We need (heh) more of this.

    So, I recommend to all this book:

    The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske. If you care about writing with precision and correctness, this one should be on your shelf…. and consulted often.

    Reply
  4. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 9:23 AM

    Thank you Scorpia.
    We love recommendations that make us all well equipped to face the language dragons. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Scorpia says

    August 15, 2006 at 12:41 PM

    Liz, recommendations are good, but acting on them is better. So let me know what you think of the book when you get it 😉

    Reply
  6. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 1:18 PM

    Thanks, Scorpia. I will with my next Amazon order. ‘)

    Reply
  7. Big Roy says

    August 15, 2006 at 1:39 PM

    I am always looking for books on writing. I may order the book by Mr. Fiske. I saw on Amazon he recommends a website at http://www.vocabula.com/ .

    With beer drinkers after the first few grammatical errors they pretty much all sound alike.

    Reply
  8. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 3:47 PM

    HI Roy!
    I wuold guess that beer drinkers write by ear. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Scorpia says

    August 15, 2006 at 6:46 PM

    If they write by ear, does that mean they drink by nose? 😉

    As I recall, the vocabula site is run by Mr. Fiske, which could be why he recommends it. Heh.

    Reply
  10. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 6:51 PM

    Hey, Scorpia,
    As we know in the freelance world, there’s nothing wrong with self-promotion. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Caryn says

    August 15, 2006 at 9:57 PM

    Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!! This bugs me to no end as well. What about that rule is so dang complex that people are incapable of understanding it? And don’t even get me started on the other grammar mistakes I see everywhere.

    Okay. Mini-rant over. 🙂

    Reply
  12. ME Strauss says

    August 15, 2006 at 10:01 PM

    Hi Caryn,
    You’re welcome. 32 welcomes. I really think that this one is one that has never been explained to most people. Count and noncount nouns is a realitvely new terminology as far as I know in American textbooks and so maybe folks just had nothing to hang it on.

    Who can explain it. Email me the other ones you want me to make a post about. I’ll be glad to set them out here. I know a few, but maybe not all of the ones that you see.

    Reply

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