"1000 words or fewer" vs "1000 words or less"

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Borad

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"Fewer" is technically for quantities but with Google returning 136,000 results for the phrase "1000 words or less" and 43,400 for "1000 words or fewer" I say there's a good argument for the former. Do style guides cover this? I don't think dictionaries would ignore the usage that's more popular by such a wide margin but I didn't check the definition.

I saw the phrase "1000 words or fewer" in a subforum and even though I know it's technically more proper it was a little jarring. I'm still unsettled.

Do you think "Oh, he used 'fewer'" when you read it? I do.
 

Brightdreamer

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Grammarly on fewer versus less

Since words are countable, it would indeed technically be "fewer." Popular doesn't necessarily equal correct. (glares at people using apostrophes for plural)

However, if you were going for a casual voice, many people would say "less" conversationally.

It's all down to what impression you want to give with your writing.
 

AW Admin

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From the Blessed AHD s.v. less:

Usage Note: The traditional rule holds that fewer should be used for things that can be counted (fewer than four players), while less should be used with mass nouns for things of measurable extent (less paper; less than a gallon of paint). The Usage Panel largely supports the traditional rule. In our 2006 survey, only five percent accepted the sentence There are less crowds at the mall these days, while 28 percent accepted the following sentence, in which less is contrasted with more: The region needs more jobs, not less jobs. The Panel was a little more accepting (but still not in favor) of the familiar supermarket usage The express lane is reserved for shoppers with 10 or less items. The traditional rule is often hard to follow in practice, however, in part because plural nouns and mass nouns are similar in being divisible and in lacking distinct boundaries. For this reason, plurals and mass nouns are used in many of the same ways. Both can be used without determiners (I like apples, I like applesauce), and they both can take certain quantifiers like some and more (more apples, more applesauce). Less falls in the same class as some and more and is used in some well-established constructions where fewer would occur if the traditional rule were applied. Less than can be used before a plural noun that denotes a measure of time, amount, or distance: less than three weeks; less than $400; less than 50 miles. Less is sometimes used with plural nouns in the expressions no less than (as in No less than 30 of his colleagues signed the letter) and or less (as in Give your reasons in 25 words or less). And the approximator more or less is normally used after plural nouns as well as mass nouns: I have two dozen apples, more or less. To use fewer in such constructions sounds fastidious, so writers who follow the traditional rule should do so with caution.
 
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