Bunuel wrote:
After the move, Amanda started shopping at a grocery store that was closer to her new home, but she found it had fewer produce, less varieties of fresh juice, and less options for healthy eating then her previous store of choice.
(A) fewer produce, less varieties of fresh juice, and less options for healthy eating then her previous store of choice
(B) less produce, fewer varieties of fresh juice, and fewer options for healthy eating than her previous store of choice
(C) less produce, fewer varieties of fresh juice, and less options for healthy eating then her previous store of choice
(D) fewer produce, fewer varieties of fresh juice, and less options for healthy eating than her previous store of choice
(E) fewer produce, fewer varieties of fresh juice, and fewer options for healthy eating than her previous store of choice
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
B. The sentence as written has two problems: it confuses the use of less and fewer and of then and than. The author uses less and fewer improperly. Fewer refers to nouns you can actually count, such as socks, lollipops, and red trucks, whereas less is used for items that can’t be easily quantified, such as rain or sugar. Since produce can’t be easily counted, the use of fewer in the original sentence is incorrect — so you can go ahead and knock out Choices (A), (D), and (E) right off the bat. “Varieties of juice” can be counted. Therefore, fewer is correct in this circumstance. You’ve narrowed your choices down to either Choice (B) or Choice (C). Because Choice (C) uses then to make a comparison, it must be wrong. Then references time and is never used in comparisons. Choice (B) fixes the errors.