FEWER VS LESS

fewer = menos

less = menos

FEWER

The pronunciation of FEWER is "FEW" + "were".

What comes after FEWER is a plural noun.

If you prefer, you can think of what comes after FEWER to be a count noun.

What is a non-count noun you might ask.

A non-count noun is a noun we can count.

Here are some plural nouns: people, oranges, coins.

There are fewer people.

There are fewer oranges.

There are fewer coins.

Here are some "count nouns". people, oranges, coins.

one person, two people, three people, four people ....no problem!

one orange, two oranges, three oranges, four oranges ...no problem!

one coin, cigarette smokes, coins, coins ...no problem!

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LESS

What comes after LESS is a NON-COUNT NOUN.

The nouns ELECTRICITY, WATER and CIGARETTE SMOKE are examples of non-count nouns.

What is a non-count noun? A non-count is a noun that we cannot count

one electricity, two electricities, three electricities, four electricities ....impossible!

one sunshine, two sunshines, three sunshines, four sunshines ....impossible!

one cigarette smoke, cigarette smokes, cigarette smokes, four cigarette smokes ....impossible!

There is less electricity.

There is less sunshine.

There is less cigarette smoke.

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Recall that both FEWER and LESS are adjecitives. They are both used as comparative adjectives. Two things are being compared with each other, Both of those things can be explicitly contained in one sentence or explicity or implicitly contained in the greater context of communicaiton sequence.

less

There is less electricity. Less than what?

There is less sunshine. Less than what?

There is less cigarette smoke. Less than what?

less than

There is less electricity available this morning than last night.

There is less sunshine in the living room than the kitchen

There is less cigarette smoke in this part of the stadium than the other part of the stadium.

fewer

There are fewer people. Fewer than what?

There are fewer oranges. Fewer than what?

There are fewer coins. Fewer than what?

fewer than

There are fewer people here than there were yesterday.

There are fewer oranges in the refrigerator than this morning.

There are fewer coins in my piggy bank than in your piggy bank.

Try your hand at some controlled exercises then expand into real life!

FEWER vs LESS

1. https://www.myenglishpages.com/grammar-exercise-fewer-less/

2. https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/adjectives/fewer-vs-less

3. https://www.englishgrammar.org/less-and-fewer/