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Less vs. fewer

Basically, it all comes down to counting.

If there’s a pile of dust and another, larger pile of dust, you could say that dust pile #1 has less dust than the larger pile.

If, however, you have a pile of 40 books and a pile of 41 books, you’d have to say that you have fewer books in the first pile than in the second pile.

A good example of the differences between the uses of less and fewer is time.

“I’ve spent less time this week working on homework than I did last week.”

and

“I’ve spent two hours fewer this week working on homework than I did last week.”

Hours can be counted. If you’re just generally speaking about time, it’s really more a mass of time than a quantitative amount.

It’s important to note that though it’s technically correct to say “fewer hours” and “fewer dollars,” most people tend to lump money, time, and distance into the “less” category and say things along the lines of “I’ve spent two hours less than last week” and “I have $300 less than John has in my wallet.”

A lesson from grammar: The past will always be simple. The future will always be perfect. The present will always be tensed.

(Source: darylshanepadilla)

de-lu-sion-al (adj.):

• relating to, based on, of affected by delusions (a false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence)

“When he said we were meant to be because he followed me on Tumblr, I knew he was delusional.”

de-lir-i-ous (adj.):

• of, relating to, or characteristic of delirium (a temporary state of mental confusion and fluctuating consciousness resulting from high fever, intoxication, shock, or other causes; a state of uncontrolled excitement or emotion); affected with or marked by delirium

“By the time I went to bed at four AM, I was delirious—I kept thinking I saw fairies in my window.”

Note: One in a state of delirium can have delusions. That doesn’t mean every delirious person is delusional.

Understanding past participles.

A past participle is generally used when speaking of a completed or past action or time. Past participles are typically formed by taking the past tense of a verb in combination with a word such as “was” or “had” (e.g. “I have brushed my hair”; “I was shaved.”)

Of course, there are some exceptions to the taking of any given verb in the past tense when using past participles. The verb “run,” for example, doesn’t fit the standard. One wouldn’t say “He had ran around the block five times” any more than one would say “She has went to the store.” In order to be clear in such a sentence sentence, the speaker or writer would have to say “He had run around the block five times” or “She had gone to the store.”

Past participles are not, however, simply limited to actions of the past. Rather, they can be used to explain a variety of situations in three tenses.

When used in present perfect tense, past participles are used to speak of something which either a) continues in the present (e.g. “I have spoken English since I was three months old.” You continue to speak English.) or b) something which has occurred at an indefinite time (e.g. “The faculty of Tumblr have looked for advertising from all over the world.” In this case, when such searching actually took place is not mentioned or implied.)

In past perfect tense, past participles are used to describe actions which took place before another past action.

Examples:

• “By the time I finished writing my paper, the topic had changed.”
• “When I got home, the garbage was already taken down.”
• The topic changed before the paper was finished.
• The garbage was down before the speaker arrived home.

In future perfect tense, past participles are used to speak of an action that will take place in the future prior to another action.

Example:

• “By the time we withdraw our troops from Canada, all our nation’s citizens will have changed their minds about healthcare.” In this case, the citizens changing their minds is occurring in the future, prior to the withdrawal of the troops.

“Dying” refers to nearing death.

“Dyeing” refers to coloring something with dye.

Learn it.

PSA:

“Somewhat” is one word, as is “somehow.”