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few v/s less

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Source: — Sentence Correction |
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by theCodeToGMAT » Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:13 pm
{A} INCORRECT; "less" is used for uncountables.

Amount is used for uncountables too ... ignore {C}, {D} & {E}

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by [email protected] » Mon Apr 28, 2014 11:58 pm
Hi mukherjee.tanuj3,

As Rahul has pointed out, the primary issue in this SC is the issue of "countable" vs. "non-countable" nouns.

Items that can be physically counted should be referred to with the words "number" and "fewer."

Items that cannot be physically counted should be referred to with the words "amount" and "less."

This SC refers to "drive-ins", which is a noun that you CAN physically count. Each of the 4 wrong answers uses a "non-countable" word.

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by [email protected] » Thu May 01, 2014 5:55 am
Hi,
"less" is used when the concerned noun is uncountable or A NUMBER, such as volume, density, dollars. Therefore, I preferred less rather than fewer as a number was concerned .
Am I missing something?
Ex- Volume of Earth is less than that of Sun.

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by ilyana » Thu May 01, 2014 1:47 pm
Hi!

"Less" doesn't describe a number here; it describes how many drive-ins [a countable plural noun] there are now.

The verb might help:

One number IS less than the other.
There ARE fewer drive-ins (fewer than 4000) now.
The number of drive-ins IS less now.
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