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Writing Tip of the Month
January 2012 Grammar Goof on the Campaign Trail Presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke to the Queen City Rotary Club at its
January 5 morning meeting and made a surprising grammar goof. In response to a question, he
said, "Less people...." We never heard what he said after that because we were so
taken aback that he had made this error. (He should have said "fewer people.")
If you want people to hear your message, in person or in print, you need to use
proper English.
We
discussed the difference between "less" and "fewer" in our January
2005 Writing Tip, but here is a reminder: Use "fewer" with items that can
be counted and "less" with items that cannot be counted individually.
Examples:
Fewer
people attended the rally than the organizers expected.
Fewer than 30 people attended the
event.
Less of a crowd than usual showed up to hear the candidate.
Fewer candidates are
interacting directly with voters this year.
Will N.H. garner more or less media attention
during this year's presidential primary?
No fewer than 20 media outlets covered the event.
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