Which sentence uses the underlined word correctly?

Which sentence uses the underlined word correctly?

A: It seems as if there are less children on the class trip than we originally planned.

B: Less people go to the movies since it is more affordable to watch movies at home.

C: I want to put less sugar in my tea because I eat too much of it throughout the day.

D: There are less strays living behind my house since our new dog scared them all away.

Answer: C: I want to put less sugar in my tea because I eat too much of it throughout the day.

In option C however, the word “less” is correctly used because “ sugar” is an uncountable noun. Uncountable nouns are those you cannot count because you cannot put them in groups like you do for countable nouns. Other examples of uncountable nouns are; wa¬ter, air, money, time and so on. On the other hand, the word “fewer” should be used with countable things which are the things that can be counted individually. The remaining sentences in this question employ ‘less’ inappropriately when it should be replaced by ‘fewer’. For instance, in sentence A, “children” is a countable noun, so it should be “fewer children. ” Similarly, in sentences B and D, “people” and “strays” are countable nouns, respectively, so these sentences should use “fewer” instead of “less. ” To illustrate the correct usage further, consider these examples: ‘I have less patience today’ is an example of the use of the less/fewer for an uncountable noun, while the saying ‘I have fewer apples in my basket’ is an example where less/fewer is used for countable noun. Knowledge of this difference assists when applying these words in different cases—it enhances the measure of accuracy and cohesiveness of the message.