I am on a grammar kick about the use of words improperly. When to use "less" or "few." When to use "Who" or "whom." Those of us who went to school many years ago had lessons in writing correctly. Paragraphs. Essays. Wicked tests thought up by our strict teachers fell on our innocent shoulders. But the lessons stuck!
In the Times Colonist our local Vancouver Island newspaper on February 18, 2012."The woman had worked at the post office for a relatively short time, said Sgt. Rob Webb of Shawnigan RCMP. The case involved "less than 100 items." Please don't do this! The officer should have said, "fewer than 100 items."
In The Globe and Mail one of Canada's two major newspapers this item. It appears in an article about the abuse of OxyContin abuse. ""Of the thousands who need treatment, she said, less then10 percent are getting help."
Concise Oxford Dictionary: Fewer the comparative form of Few is correctly used with words denoting people or countable things, while less is used with mass nouns denoting things that cannot be counted. Below is a good example of how to use "less."
This from an article in The National Post regarding stifling rules wreaking havoc on the transportation industry in Greece. "It cost less to import a tomato from The Netherlands than to buy one from a Greek farm, less to rent party goods from Italy than from a neighbouring Greek town."
Lesson over. I won't go into the use of "who" and when to use "whom." Sigh. Who is paying attention to my rant? Please comment and make me feel good. Make me feel even better by by purchasing the trade paperback edition of my time travel romance novel, "RING AROUND THE MOON."
Imagine arriving at midnight at the cottage my heroine has rented in Cornwall, England when a man appears from a nearby stand of trees and claims her as his wife who died two hundred years ago.
Enjoy life. Enjoy reading.
Anita
www.anitabirt.com
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