Though both of these refer to some kind of reduction, they are far too often misused. Less should be used in general broad terms, like less soil or land. Fewer is used with specific items, like fewer leaves or trees. Generally, if it can be counted individually, then fewer is correct. If it is a mass amount, then less is correct.

Less = bulk, mass, amounts, or quantity – or plural terms

Fewer = countable things or individual items – or singular terms

So, if your Mother gets fewer than 6 roses on her birthday, she might be OK with that. If she gets less roses than she did last year, she might worry about your finances.

I may have had fewer than twenty minutes to eat my lunch today, but I had less time for lunch yesterday.

This one isn’t as tricky as it seems, though most people opt for i.e., when they really mean e.g. The problem here is that most of us have either forgotten or never knew the Latin words these abbreviations stand for. So, here’s a simple way to remember which one to use and their Latin meanings serve quite nicely.

e.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means – for example

i.e. stands for id est, which means – that is

The first letter of the abbreviation can help you remember which to use. The “e” in e.g. points to “example”, and the “i” in i.e. points to “is”. Pretty simple really.

So when you want to illustrate something, e.g., how to pick the lint out of your toes, you want to present an example.

When you want to clarify or reword something, i.e., that lint picking your toes is best done in private, then you want a “that is” involved.

Just remember to put a comma before either usage. Commas after them will depend on stylebook dictates, but usually you’ll want one.

Which one do I use? This one or that? This is another misused term that is so hard to figure out. In my days as a journalist, my editor wielded his pencil like a switchblade, stabbing and slicing my story every place I chose incorrectly.

His face would be red and inflamed as he handed my shredded story back to me. I didn’t like his face when it was red and inflamed. It frightened me. And someday he will become a character in a horror novel.

That is the price you pay for being sloppy. It is a emotion, which I hope, I never feel.  So, quite simply.

That is defining, points directly to, marks the thing you’re referring to.

Which is not defining, adds a tidbit or a fact to the thing you’re referring to.

Which one? That one.

This is a big one. It is (it’s) so common it appears in virtually every writing help book. Why it’s so hard to remember is an unsolved mystery and bound to go down in its history, especially since it’s such an easy rule.

And editors go nuts over this one. It makes them want to send it and all its words into a black hole.

So, as you’re writing, just remember one simple rule.

 Separate the it from its “s”. If there is a has or an is in there, it needs an apostrophe.  If not, no apostrophe.

 It has something and it is something, but it cannot possess anything – ever.

Always. Every time. No exceptions to the rule. No passing go. No collecting $200. No way. No how. Never. Not even one time.