My guess is that more or less is somtimes used litterally, in which case 'fewer' is the right suggestion. When used as 'a bit' it is used differently.
> There can be a verb or an uncountable noun, or an adverb. In the corpus > (GLOWBE) all matches of "more or less" + plural noun turned out to be > verbs misrecognized as nouns. > > I may be wrong but I think "more or less combinations" is not standard > English. If you can find Charles Dickens or Jane Austin, or anything > that is definitely standard English, with this expression, I will add an > exception to the rule. > > Regards, > Marcin > > W dniu 2014-03-08 08:15, R.J. Baars pisze: >> >> But Marcin is right. There should not be a noun after this expression, >> but >> most likely an adjective. >> >> Ruud >> >>> I understand that U/C part, but "more or less" in >>> this case is an idiom meaning "to a varying or >>> undetermined extent or degree" (Merriam-Webster's >>> Collegiate® Dictionary). We can't have it as "more or fewer". >>> >>> kb >>> >>> Marcin Mià âkowski wrote thus at 10:40 PM 07-03-14: >>>> I'm not sure it's correct English. "Combinations" is countable, so >>>> there >>>> cannot be "less combinations", only "fewer combinations". I couldn't >>>> find many examples of "more or less" with plural countable nouns in >>>> any >>>> corpus. >>>> >>>> So I think this is not a bug but a feature. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Marcin >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> Subversion Kills Productivity. Get off Subversion & Make the Move to >>> Perforce. >>> With Perforce, you get hassle-free workflows. Merge that actually >>> works. >>> Faster operations. Version large binaries. Built-in WAN optimization >>> and >>> the >>> freedom to use Git, Perforce or both. Make the move to Perforce. >>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=122218951&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Languagetool-devel mailing list >>> Languagetool-devel@lists.sourceforge.net >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/languagetool-devel >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Subversion Kills Productivity. Get off Subversion & Make the Move to >> Perforce. >> With Perforce, you get hassle-free workflows. Merge that actually works. >> Faster operations. Version large binaries. Built-in WAN optimization >> and the >> freedom to use Git, Perforce or both. Make the move to Perforce. >> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=122218951&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk >> _______________________________________________ >> Languagetool-devel mailing list >> Languagetool-devel@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/languagetool-devel >> >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Subversion Kills Productivity. Get off Subversion & Make the Move to > Perforce. > With Perforce, you get hassle-free workflows. Merge that actually works. > Faster operations. Version large binaries. Built-in WAN optimization and > the > freedom to use Git, Perforce or both. Make the move to Perforce. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=122218951&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > Languagetool-devel mailing list > Languagetool-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/languagetool-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subversion Kills Productivity. Get off Subversion & Make the Move to Perforce. With Perforce, you get hassle-free workflows. Merge that actually works. Faster operations. Version large binaries. Built-in WAN optimization and the freedom to use Git, Perforce or both. Make the move to Perforce. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=122218951&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Languagetool-devel mailing list Languagetool-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/languagetool-devel
