From owner-freebsd-doc Mon Jun 3 20:46:34 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from andrsn.stanford.edu (andrsn.Stanford.EDU [171.66.112.163]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E351E37B406 for ; Mon, 3 Jun 2002 20:46:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (localhost.stanford.edu [127.0.0.1]) by andrsn.stanford.edu (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g543gBH85118; Mon, 3 Jun 2002 20:42:11 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu) Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 20:42:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Annelise Anderson To: Giorgos Keramidas Cc: Ross Lippert , ac14806t@st.nagaoka-ct.ac.jp, doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: [Question] A `-h' flag for ls(1) in relnotes (RELENG_4) In-Reply-To: <20020601184640.GB414@hades.hell.gr> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Sat, 1 Jun 2002, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > On 2002-06-01 09:36 -0700, Ross Lippert wrote: > > >My intuition says that there are two ways to write this: > > > three or less > > > less than four > > Hey if someone can show me documentation that supports this usage, > > then I'll stop worrying about it, but for until that happens, I'll > > think that fewer is what you should apply to whole numbers and > > less only applies to continuous. > > > > three or fewer > > > > fewer than four > > I'll have to dig some English grammar books that have been rusting in > bookshelves for ages. See, this is why I love this list... it makes > things like these books, that keep aging slowly in my house, to be > useful again! > > Seriously now, I don't know. I'll have to check out a grammar/syntax > book to make sure what the 'yours truly & pedantically anal-retentive' > way of writing this is ;) > "fewer" refers to number, "less" to quantity. fewer than four; less than a month until the next full moon. Hamburger costs less than steak, but.... The sign above the checkstand in a supermarket that says "10 items or less" should say "10 items or fewer". Such are the ways commerce corrupts language, as in "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." There are some "close" calls where either fewer or less could be used. The main error is to use "less" when "fewer" is correct. There are a whole bunch of errors of this type in FreeBSD docs. I have always ignored them. Annelise -- Annelise Anderson Author of: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your PC Available from: BSDmall.com and amazon.com Book Website: http://www.bittreepress.com/FreeBSD/introbook/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message