'Less' v/s 'Fewer'

If you want to be less confused and make fewer mistakes then go through this post.

Rule - 'Less' is used with uncountable nouns. Eg - less water, less happiness, less money, etc.

'Fewer' is used with countable nouns. Eg. - fewer rupees, fewer people, fewer companies, etc.

Sounds simple enough. So which of the next two sentences is correct?

1. My class has fewer intelligent students.
   
   
2. My class has less intelligent students.

You are probably thinking that since people can be counted, Sentence 1 should be correct BUT in fact both the sentences are correct and are actually saying two different things:

In Sentence 1 'fewer' is modifying 'intelligent students' and is basically saying that I have fewer number of intelligent students in my class (say 3 out of 10 students)

In Sentence 2 'less' is only modifying the adjective 'intelligent' and is basically saying that students in my class have a lower intelligence level in general.

So before you mark an answer make sure you understand the correct meaning of the sentence.

To Sum it Up

1. Use 'less' to modify uncountable nouns
   
   
2. You can also use 'less' to modify adverbs and adjectives
   
   
3. Use 'fewer' to only modify countable nouns.
   
   
4. Remember, if a noun can be preceded by a number (one student, five cats, four of us, nineteen questions, etc.), it should be modified with fewer; otherwise, less is best.