This cartoon demonstrates how often native English speakers make mistakes with “few” and “less.”
FEW - FEWER - FEWEST
There are used with countable nouns
FEW:
- Few students passed the exam. (Pocos alumnos aprobaron el examen.).
- Few people attended the concert. (Pocos personas asistieron al concierto.)
- Few readers read the entire book. (Pocas lectoras leen todo el libro.)
- Few countries provide really good public transport like Spain. (Pocos países ofrecen tan buen transporte público como España.)
FEWER:
- There are fewer customers in the stores today than yesterday. (Hay menos clientes en las tiendas hoy que ayer)
- Fewer people went to the match than was expected.
- There were fewer car accidents this year than last year. (Hubo menos accidentes este año que el año pasado.)
- We have fewer criminals than New York. (Tenemos menos criminales que Nueva York.)
In the past, we used toxic chemicals in our garden. Now, we use fewer toxic products.
We used to have a lot of interesting conversations. Now, we have fewer interesting conversations.
Kids used to have a lot of opportunities to find work.
Today's kids have fewer opportunities to work.The police will carry fewer weapons.
We've had fewer good experiences staying in hotels.
We used to receive a lot of newspapers. Now we receive fewer papers — only two "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Chronicle".
THE FEWEST:
- Marta made the fewest mistakes in the English test. (Marta cometió la menor cantidad de errores en la prueba de inglés.)
- The cheapest phones come
with the fewest features. (Los móviles más baratos vienen con la menor cantidad de funciones.)
Less is used with uncountable things.
I have less money than you.
He has less patience than my other teacher.
He was less hurt than frightened.
Tom is less clever than his brother.
I would like to spend less
time waiting in line.
I want less homework and more patio time.
New cars tend to cause less air pollution.
He earns less money than his wife.
I buy less meat than before because it's too expensive.
My grandfather has less energy than when he was younger. (Mi abuelo tiene menos energía que cuando era más joven.)
Simple Rule:
You can count apples, bottles of water, and potatoes—so you eat fewer apples, drink fewer bottles of water, and cook fewer potatoes.
You can’t count butter, water, junk food, or happy—so you eat less butter, drink less water, buy less junk food, and be less happy.