More than, Less than, Fewer than: Comparisons in English
More than, Less than, fewer than: Comparisons in English
English Grammar Lesson
Most things in life are not perfectly balanced or equal. So, whether we’re communicating at the grocery store or writing an essay for school, it’s important to know how to make comparisons about the amount of things.
More than >
indicates a greater amount of something or things; and
we are comparing that amount to something else.
Examples
“No one loves chocolate more than me!” (or …”more than I do!”)
“This job is more than I can handle.”
“I love you more than you know.”
“I hate the new boss more than words can express!”
Word Order
“More” and “than” can have one or more words between them that specifies what the speaker has more of.
Example
“You have more shoes than anyone else I’ve ever met.”
Less than <
indicates a smaller amount of something; and
we are comparing that amount to something else.
Note that “less” and “than” can also have one or more words between them to indicate what the speaker has less of.
Examples
“My investment was less than my brother’s, so he will make more money than me in the end.”
“I know less about this industry than my competitors, so I don’t think I’ll win this contract.”
“There is less to do here than I had anticipated, so we need to re-think our plans.”
“The sweater costs less [money] than I thought it would, so I bought some pants, too!”
Caution!
“Less than” is used for amounts that you cannot count, such as “water” or “information”. If you want to compare items that you can count, such as “books” or “glasses of water”, you should say “fewer than“.
Fewer than <
Examples
“I have fewer pieces of paper than the rest of the class.”
“I have fewer than ten items.”
“There are fewer activities on the island than I thought there would be, so we need to re-work our itinerary.”
Note: Have you ever seen the express line at a supermarket that says “10 items or less”? Now you know that is incorrect! Why? Because you can count “items,” the correct way to say this statement would be “10 items of fewer“. See, even native speakers make mistakes!
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