Volume 184 - Issue 2
More students and less patients: the squeeze on medical teaching resources
Author: Helen Randall
Med J Aust 2006; 184 (2): 94. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00135.x
Published online: 16 January 2006
Published online: 16 January 2006
In reply: We plead guilty, but knowingly so. When this article was being proofread, there was much discussion about this “regrettable” use of less, but in this instance a catchy title was preferred to following Burchfield’s prescription.1 We take comfort from The Cambridge Australian English style guide, which notes that “using fewer rather than less is . . . a stylistic matter rather than one of correct grammar”.2
References
- Burchfield RW, editor. The new Fowler’s modern English usage. 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996: 295.<eMJA full text>
- Peters P. The Cambridge Australian English style guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995: 277. 0_JDBEHBJA