Poll: Less people

Vidableek

Why is it bad english? Saying "There was less people than yesterday" sounds perfectly fine to me.

Tektek

YUP!!! -less pple- sounds gr8!

steve3d

I would use "fewer" to refer to a number and "less" to refer to an amount, e.g. "fewer people" and "less snow."

nameless

get over these

phetmike

Fewer is a better word

old gobbo

@vidableek: would you consider saying "There were less people than yesterday", because 'people' is undoubtedly plural ? If so, then I think you would find that 'fewer' went more naturally into the phrase than 'less' does. Yes, I agree that it is something of a misleading pedantry to insist on 'fewer' for nouns of quantity on all occasions (cf. Old English partitive genitive of l�s [sorry, cannot manage the accent]), but 'custom and usage' give 'fewer' the edge in educated speech.

Helen

It isn't pedantic to use fewer - it is simply correct grammar in this sentence! It's laziness to say it doesn't matter.

tasmanman

Bad English, but awful is overstating it.