More and more, fewer people use “less” and “fewer” the way the
language gods intended. “There are less people here than there
were last year,” for example, is commonly heard or written.
Grammar texts are pretty absolute: Use “fewer” when you’re
talking about countable things, and “less” when you’re not. So
that first example should be “fewer” people, because you can
count them. Simple.  OK, then what about this? “The contract
pays him fewer than a thousand dollars a week.” Doesn’t that
sound funny? But it must be right: You can count those dollars.
Thus the first “exception” to the “rules”: Use “less” when the
context refers to a quantity, rather than individual things,
even if there are a number of things. Thus, “he earns less than
a thousand dollars a week,” but “he earns five hundred fewer
dollars than his wife.”  That “exception” is usually easy to
follow: Use “less” with singular nouns and “fewer” with plural
nouns. (You need “less” salt on your fries, but “fewer” grains
of salt.) If you’re comparing q