Less or fewer?

[Matthew Wai]

Peter jogged less than 2000 metres yesterday.
Peter jogged fewer metres yesterday than he did the day before yesterday.

Are they correct?

 

[riquecohen]

I would use fewer in both sentences, as we are talking about a countable noun. Nowadays, it seems that less is accepted by many people.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Then would you say "fewer than five hours/dollars/kilograms" but not "less"?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

I don't think that, "Peter jogged fewer than 2000 metres yesterday." sounds at all natural, despite the countable nature of metres. In this sense it isn't 2000 seperate metres being considered but a distance which is more or less long.

Take a look at definition 1.1 here.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"less than two miles," "less than five minutes," "less than ten pounds," "less than two dollars"
"Reginald lost fewer pounds on the Adkins Diet than he did on the South Beach Diet."
── quoted from http://www.grammar-worksheets.com/worksheets/fewer.php

Do you agree or not?

 

[riquecohen]

Then would you say "fewer than five hours/dollars/kilograms" but not "less"?

On further reflection, I'm inclined to agree with post #2.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

You are agreeing with yourself, riquecohen.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I guess he means his opinions remain unchanged regardless of yours in Post#3.

 

[Roman55]

That was you. I expressed my opinion in post #4.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Sorry for my typo, Roman.

 

[riquecohen]

I am not a teacher.

You are agreeing with yourself, riquecohen.

Sorry for the confusion that I caused. I was agreeing with Roman in post #4.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Most of us knew that.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Does it mean that both sentences in my original post#1 are correct?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

For me they are.

 

[Tdol]

"less than two miles," "less than five minutes," "less than ten pounds," "less than two dollars"
"Reginald lost fewer pounds on the Adkins Diet than he did on the South Beach Diet."
── quoted from http://www.grammar-worksheets.com/worksheets/fewer.php

Do you agree or not?

Yes.