Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 4 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
Exhibits: Northern toilet tissue advertises, “More sheets per roll, fewer roll changes! More rolls per pack, less trips to the store!” Ultra Slim-Fast advertises, “Ounce for delicious ounce, less calories and fat than Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers!” In Oregon, a story on prison reorganization reports, “The closures would result in 2,427 less beds in the Oregon prison system.”
We all know the basic rule: Use “fewer” for things that can be counted individually, and use “less” for collective things that are thought of collectively. The rule works about 95 percent of the time, but there are exceptions. My ear likes, “He served in Europe for less than 18 months.” I like, “The bureau got started with a capital investment of less than $5,000.”
Looking at the exhibits, I believe the toilet tissue people should have used “fewer” in both instances: fewer roll changes, fewer trips to the store. I would have amended the Slim-Fast copy to read “fewer calories and less fat,” partly to get an alliterative effect from the ellsounds. My choice in the prison story would have been for “2,427 fewer beds,” because obviously we are dealing with an individually countable amount.
91.1%