Mental Floss

GRAMMAR

Fewer pancakes, but less syrup.

‘Less’ versus ‘fewer’ is pretty straightforward. ‘Less than’ vs. ‘fewer than’ is slightly less so. Here’s how to get it right every time.

Ellen Gutoskey








What does the word 'the' mean, anyway?

It’s the most frequent word in the English language, accounting for around 4 percent of all the words we write or speak. But what the word 'the' means is surprisingly complicated.

Arika Okrent








If you're writing a conditional statement, then you should use then.

‘More than’ or ‘more then’ isn’t a matter of opinion. But there was a time when they were interchangeable.

Ellen Gutoskey








"May I please use can when asking permission to do something?"

Many a teacher has reinforced the grammar rule that ‘may’ is for asking permission—not ‘can.’ But there’s a little more to it than that.

Ellen Gutoskey