Even though the day later evolved into annoying errands at the bank – no, you need an appointment. The next one available is 2:30 (an hour away) – it began auspiciously enough.
I enjoyed my “Boomer Bootcamp” class at the Y, which sounds much more hardcore than it is. Fifty percent of the class is ladies well beyond a “certain age” who still gamely try to keep up with the steps and leg lifts. I like moving to music; classes in which we exercise to nothing more than ‘one, two, three, four. . .” are interminable.
Even better was an interview on National Public Radio that I heard with my breakfast. It was with a literary agent discussing the merger of Simon and Schuster with Penguin. Writers I know are opposed to this since it will lessen the number of publishing houses. Fewer publishing houses means that much less competition when manuscripts are out to bid, and therefore the payment to authors and agents will be less.
But as interesting as this is, what warmed my heart was finally, finally!! hearing “fewer” and “less” being used correctly. Well of course it was. The agent being interviewed trafficked in words and knew how to use them.
FYI – Fewer refers to things that can be counted. Fewer opportunities
Less refers to items which cannot. Less happiness
Whew. I feel better now.
Less vs. fewer sometimes give me pause, good to remember fewer is things that can be counted, less is items which cannot.
ReplyDeleteExactly! My work here is now done! :o)
ReplyDeleteAnther thing that makes my hair stand on end is - "He did good"...Just NO!Thank you for "fewer" and "less".
ReplyDeleteI have a list of things like that. I'm often correcting people in my head as they speak.
ReplyDeleteSomeone, who won't be me, should tell our Aussie supermarkets their 12 items or less signs at express checkouts, are all grammatically wrong.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! With my students, I can correct them out loud. With adults, I do the same thing you do. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteHooray for English teachers - despite the fact that some of mine mean that I am in grump mode often - and longing for a pen to correct signs.
ReplyDeleteExactly, and what always amazes me is the thought that not only did someone pay for that, but the professional sign company put it up.
DeleteWe were taught bad habits which are hard to break. I was aghast this morning when I checked my own blog and realized that I had written I when I should have used me.
ReplyDelete"You can see Sue and me in the top left corner." I wrote I originally. I hang my head.
I re-read a text of mine last week in which I used the wrong "your"!
DeleteThe shame, the shame. I blame it on too fast fingers and auto correct.
When I hear commentators on the TV misusing the words, I always correct them, but they never listen. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's always pleasing to see or hear a phrase used correctly. I've become much more tolerant of dubious grammar, though, because language evolves, and sometimes today's mistake is tomorrow's common usage -- for better or worse!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. So for instance, alright (vs all right) is accepted, although it's not standard to edited English.
DeleteAnd gives me a small twitch when I see it.