Less or fewer?

Question

Please, are both sentences correct, or which one is correct and why?    The less paper we use the less amount of trees or fewer trees we'll need to cut down.

JohnG · Accepted Answer

Use "less" for uncountable nouns, like paper, water, flour, sand, rubbish, etc.

Use "fewer" for countable nouns, like trees, apples, fingers, toes, saxophones, etc.

Therefore: "The less paper ...the fewer trees."

BillJ · Answer

towel ladder
Please, are both sentences correct, or which one is correct and why?
The less paper we use the less amount of trees or fewer trees we'll need to cut down.

The usual rule is that you should use "fewer" for all things that can be counted and "less" for mass items. But there are some sensible exceptions. For example, supermarkets often have a fast checkout aisle displaying a "10 items or less" sign, which in theory breaks the rule since "item" is a count noun and hence the sign should say "fewer", not "less". But it would be ridiculous to re-word it "10 items or fewer" -- nobody says that. "10 items or less" is fine.

And what about this gem of sheer stupidity: ... fewer than half of the matches have been decided by 10 points or fewer. Since "point" is a count noun, "fewer" complies with the rule, but it's ridiculous: 10 points or less is what we want here.

So, yes obey the rule, but watch out for those examples where to do so would be plain daft.

Cpu olive 329 · Answer

which is correct: The less paper we use the fewer trees we'll need to cut down.

Or: The less paper we use the less trees we'll need to cut down?

Less or fewer?

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