This Sentence Might Be a Vocabulary Lesson

But the sentence made it into this post because it contains a common, small error. Do you see it?

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting sentence. And an interesting article.

In a Weatherwise article on Humboldt, Stephen Vermette noted that Alexander took with him no less than 42 instruments ranging from “navigation and surveying to a microscope to observe small detail and to identify species, and instruments to measure magnetism”. His cache included two mercurial barometers, several thermometers, a rain gauge, two hygrometers to measure humidity, a cyanometer to measure the blue color of the sky, a hypsometer which determines the temperature at which water boils at different altitudes and a eudiometer to measure the volume of gases.

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/alexander-von-humboldt-scientist-extraordinaire

Okay, it’s two sentences. Gotta get them both for the vocabulary lesson. And you saw the goof, right? If you didn’t, look up “fewer” and “less” in the search box.

Oh yes; a picture from the article:

I just ran into a sentence with a similar error: He should have used “number” instead of “amount.” He’s counting, not measuring.

 After a wayward bee inspired a yearslong obsession, he painted a mural in Florida and made it his goal to paint 50,000 bees: the amount of insects that make up a healthy, thriving hive.

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Remember the rule: use fewer when you’re counting, and less when you’re measuring. You count how many kids you have, right? Should be fewer

Of course, some things can go either way, such as time. You can count hours, for example (Since I retired, I work far fewer hours than I used to.), but you can also measure the time using units such as hours (I spent less time at work today than I usually do.).

So pay attention to what you’re writing!

This post first appeared on The Writing Rag.

The rule is (Okay, maybe I should say “the rules are.)

• Use “less” when you’re measuring
• Use “fewer” when you’re counting.

Warning: pay attention to the context!

This sentence looks okay, right?

Astronomers have detected less than half of the estimated 25,000 near-Earth objects thought to be 459 feet in size or greater.

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-space-0c3f02e5-1453-4f8c-b9fa-6dd90db64456.html

“Less than half” feels correct, doesn’t it? That’s because with fractions, usually you’re measuring. But this sentence is counting asteroids, so it should say “fewer.”

When you write, be alert! Pay attention! Here’s a picture of an asteroid so you have something besides text to look at. Thanks, NASA.

This post first appeared on The Writing Rag.

She’s right of course. Get it right in your own writing, and don’t correct others unless they ask. Or to make a joke.

Use “fewer” when you’re counting and “less” when you’re measuring.

This post first appeared on The Writing Rag.

When we count things, the rule it to say “fewer,” and when we measure things, we say “less.” So we have fewer apples, but less distance. Since we measure time, normally we say less.

But you can count time, too, and when that happens, you should use fewer. So the guy in this comic has it wrong.

Just be sure you’re counting units of time, not measuring the time itself.