Which is correct and why (English query)

[mph999]

Many thanks, interesting views ...

[davhill]

Worse than expected?

Just a thought

[Tidybeard]

I take it OP is marketing Kias?

[Snowboy]

Lower.

It may be possible to introduce some context were 'less' is suitable or possibly even 'fewer' - but then we probably wouldn't talk about performance but output, or something else.

The output of an machine that is supposed to create 30 hats per hour may be less than expected.

But, lower would work just as well.


Or something about the performance of plane or submarine where the word lower might add confusion.

The performance of the deep sea sub was lower than expected.

But then you'd probably construct a totally different sentence.

[Amateurish]

ClassicMotorNut said:

Amateurish said:

"Less".

Would you ask how "much" performance it had, or how "many"?

It's 'how much', but I would stay say 'lower', because you would be given figures and you can have a lower figure but you can't have a less figure.

If I asked how many performance(s) he had, I would expect to hear something like 'it's got fewer performance(s) than that Defender' and neither question nor answer would be grammatically correct.

Really? If I said you had less milk than expected - this would also be quantified using figures, e.g. litres. What's the difference?

[Mave]

Amateurish said:

Really? If I said you had less milk than expected - this would also be quantified using figures, e.g. litres. What's the difference?

There aren't many commonly used parameters associated with milk- quality is the obvious common one. What parameter would you be talking about for high performance trainers by contrast?