05 November 2008

Fewer, Less or Lesser

A short lesson on grammar.

I am often amused by how often people in this region tend to mix up their comparative, in respect of "fewer, less and lesser".

Firstly,
few, fewer, fewest : are used with countable nouns, e.g. people, coins
little, less, least: are used with uncountable or abstract nouns, e.g., money, water, love, honesty

This morning, I just heard a lady speaker who speaks very fluent English say, "... less people ...". I was taught from young to say "fewer people", but it seems that in modern standard English practice, the usage of less here is increasing, rightly or wrongly.

However, what is clearly incorrect is to use lesser to mean fewer or less. It seems many do not know the difference between fewer/less and lesser,
e.g., they say. "I have lesser money", when they should say, "I have less money".
Or, "There are lesser people here" when it should be "there are fewer people here".

Lesser in fact means, "smaller, as in size or importance; inferior, e.g., a lesser evil.
Many years ago, I watched the film, "Children of the Lesser Gods" as a child. Lesser Gods clearly does not refer to fewer gods, but to gods who are inferior (to a higher or more superior god).

3 comments:

Stanley said...

Hi Kevin,

This is interesting.You must be one of the precious(few)who delves deeply into grammar usage.ha3!

Kevin Ee said...

Not really. I just remember some basic grammar. As I age, my grammar get worse.

Thank goodness for the internet, where you can check and get googols of info free of charge.

Kevin Ee said...

Today, I heard another speaker say, "I speak lesser," when he should just say,"I speak less."

Similar errors are commonly made by Singaporeans and Malaysians when they say, "... more better, more quicker, ..." instead of just "...better, quicker,...".