Quote:
Originally Posted by EsqUmp
That's not so. It would have to be "lesser number of outs than 2" to be correct.
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Usage Discussion of LESS
The traditional view is that
less applies to matters of degree, value, or amount and modifies collective nouns, mass nouns, or nouns denoting an abstract whole while
fewer applies to matters of number and modifies plural nouns.
Less has been used to modify plural nouns since the days of King Alfred and the usage, though roundly decried, appears to be increasing.
Less is more likely than
fewer to modify plural nouns when distances, sums of money, and a few fixed phrases are involved <
less than 100 miles>
less than $2000> less> and as likely as fewer to modify periods of time less (or fewer) than four hours>.