Less grammar; more difficulty

Well you know that I like to talk about grammar.  I described my pet peeve earlier concerning the common misuse of plural pronouns where the singular is called for.  One of my comment contributors raised another grammatical problem -- when to use "you and I" vs. "you and me."  I appreciate Pamela for bringing that up; and yes, it irritates me when I hear that mistake made.  It's not at all difficult to know which to use.  In your mind, simply drop the "you" from your intended phrase (since it's common to both choices), and ask which makes sense in your sentence, "I" or "me."  I won't give an example, just try it.  The same applies to similar situations such as "my boss and I (or me)."

Today, I want to address the often misapplied adjectives "less" and "few."  I hear them misused all the time, and, OK, it drives me nuts.  Again, the rule is simple but a bit more difficult to explain.  It has to do with whether the noun is an item that can be counted or not.  The adjectives "less" and "few" refer to quantities of something, indicating whether one is speaking about more of the item or ______ of it.  If the noun is something that can be counted, such as pennies, bottles, keys, people or asteroids, then you may talk about more of them or fewer of them.  "I bought fewer gallons of milk this week than last because it wasn't on sale."  You can count whether you bought 1 or 2 or 3 gallons.  However, you can't count milk.  You can measure it, but you can't count it.  Therefore, the following would be correct:  "I bought less milk this week than last because it wasn't on sale."  It's as simple as that.  The test is, "Can I count it or not?"  Don't get caught up into whether or not you can actually count all the stars, asteroids or grains of sand.  The point is that they are "countable," and, therefore, you can speak about more of them or fewer of them.

I realize some people have a problem with the use of the phrase "more or less."  That's a completely different topic, one with which I have no problem.  The complaint is usually that some speakers seem to overuse the phrase, to the hearers' great annoyance.  I say, "Deal with it," the same as I must deal with those who are not concerned about making less mistakes  in their grammar, thus causing me fewer irritation [sic].


Thanks for reading and hearing my complaints.