We thought something looked fishy about last week's Grammarnator, and when we received the following message from Robert Pingree himself, we knew there was something awry: “The Grammarnator will not provide a column based on material in the issue of 11/22-28. Instead, he will humbly yield his space to the peoplewho write in about the error he committed that week.”
Indeed, we received several calls and emails from readers concerned about the Grammarnator. Was he in good health? Did he write his last piece with shaky hands while at gunpoint in a warehouse somewhere? Or was he replaced by an alien pod person with a less keen grasp on grammar?
Or, as reader Fred Graf put it: “Was something transposed in the last paragraph of the column? This paragraph seems to contradict the reason for finding 'amount of lunches' improper.”
Indeed it was, Fred. The Grammarnator flipped the explanations of when to use “amount” and “fewer” and when to use “number” and “less.”
So, to avoid any further confusion, if there is an “s” or an “es” at the end of a word (lunches, bills, vandals), you want “number” and “less.” If there isn't (food, cash, damage), you want “amount” and “fewer.”
There's your grammar lesson of the day, courtesy of the Insiders (and not the Grammarnator!).
