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Thread: less trees

  1. #1
    spenser is offline Junior Member
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    Default less trees

    "And there were far less trees."

    May I know why the author of the above sentence used "less" instead of "fewer" before a countable noun?

  2. #2
    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: less trees

    Many native English speakers use less + plural countable. Formally, fewer is preferred, but it depends on things like regions.

  3. #3
    redcrows is offline Junior Member
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    Default Re: less trees

    I think trees can be countable or uncountable.
    ten trees
    the trees = the forest

  4. #4
    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: less trees

    It doesn't matter whether you can count them; countab ility is theoretical. We would find it hard to count the stars, but that doesn't make them grammatically uncountable.

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