A number of readers have raised a number of questions about numbers.

Gregory Fischer of Allentown, New Jersey, objects to this sentence: "The man allows the woman to do the majority of the monitoring." It's not because Gregory thinks men should do more monitoring. It's because he thinks "majority" should be used only to describe countable items, as in "majority of votes."

He's right. The majority of grammarians veto phrases such as "majority of the book" and "majority of the land." Only with countable items does "majority" rule.

Sam Bornstein of Brighton, Michigan, faults sportscasters who describe a team trailing by six points as being "within six points" of its opponents. Sam, who is clearly the point man on this issue, notes that "within six points" technically means "fewer than six points," e.g., one to five points behind.

Though Sam's point — and points — are well taken, the preposition "within" has another meaning: "not beyond." That's the meaning at work in phrases like "within six points."

Meanwhile, Patricia Gignac of Troy, Michigan, spotted this header atop a list of mutual funds: "Top-performing funds with 35 stocks or less."

It should be "35 stocks or fewer," she writes, adding, "I've always gone by the rule that 'fewer' applies to things that could be counted, and 'less' to things that can't be."

Patricia is right to go by that rule, even though most people seem to go right by it. When it comes to countable items, count on "fewer." Save "less" for bulk items: "less money," "less grain."

(Exceptions to this rule occur when referring to time and money, which, while countable, essentially function as mass nouns, e.g., less than five years, less than four dollars.)

Karen Vallen of Memphis, Tennessee, asks whether it's all right to begin a sentence with a date, as in "2022 is upon us."

Experts disagree on this. Some insist that every sentence begin with a capital letter; hence, no sentence can begin with a number. So, they would write, "Twenty years passed. Fifty-six cucumbers were sold."

But as the size of the numbers increases, this becomes cumbersome, e.g., "Fifty-six thousand two hundred sixty-two dollars have been allocated." That's why some publications do use numbers when a sentence begins with a year, e.g., "2023 will bring surprises."

Here's the good news: You can usually sidestep this issue by reworking the beginning of the sentence, e.g., "They sold 56 cucumbers." "A total of $56,262 was allocated." "The year 2023 will be better than 2022."

Capital idea!

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His new book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254.

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