本文針對“答疑中心”的以下問題而寫：
www.yygrammar.com/guestbook/Guest_Reply.asp?TopicID=1291(可點擊查閱問題)
less和least可加在形容詞或副詞等之前表示“較不……”或“最不……”，可稱為較低級 (Lower Degree) 或最低級 (Lowest Degree)——摘自張道真《英語語法大全》。
本文只歸納 less 的用法(least的用法與之相似，只是意思不同)。
一、用于形容詞前
1. 用于單音節形容詞前。如：
Summer clothes are invariably less kind to fuller figures. 體形較豐滿的人穿夏裝總是不那么好看。
I found it immensely rewarding working with the less able children. 為能力差的孩子工作我覺得是非常值得的。
The voice, less coarse now, stirred her as it had then. 現在那聲音已不那么刺耳，它又如當年一樣讓她怦然心動。
2. 用于雙(多)音節形容詞前
Jack was careful but Peter was less careful. 杰克細心，但是彼得差一些。
It may be less useful than it appears at first. 它似乎不像初看上去那樣有用。
The body may be less resistant if it is cold. 天冷時，身體的抵抗力會下降。
They have been demoted to less responsible jobs. 他們被降職去做不太重要的工作。
Women are sometimes seen to be less effective as managers. 女性有時被認為不善于管理。
They want less passive ways of filling their time. 他們想找些更為積極的方式來打發時間。
Their dinner parties had become considerably less formal. 他們的晚餐會已經遠不如以前正式。
The teacher had no patience with the less intelligent pupils. 那位老師對不太聰明的學生沒有耐性。
People are becoming less tolerant of smoking these days. 如今人們對吸煙較為難以容忍了。
To shorten the lecture, the professor left out the less important parts. 為了縮短講座時間，教授省略了那些不太重要的部分。
二、用于副詞前
1. 用于單音節副詞前。如：
Does it annoy you if others do things less well than you would, or don’t seem to try hard enough? 如果別人不如你能干，或者似乎不夠努力，你會很生氣嗎?
Critics will point to other grand schemes that have gone less well, such as Sheffield’s World Student Games disaster. 批評家將會指出其他一些并不成功的大項目，比如謝菲爾德世界大學生運動會這一敗筆(www.yygrammar.com)。
2. 用于雙(多)音節形容詞前
The sobs came less frequently, then stopped altogether. 抽泣聲越來越稀疏，然后完全停止了。
Will they farm the rest of their land less intensively? 他們會在其余土地上實施較輕程度的集約化耕種嗎?
另外，less還可用于過去分詞或介詞短語等之前。如：
Housing finance is less developed in continental Europe. 住房金融業在歐洲大陸的發展程度較低。
If you close a couple of windows, the screen will be less cluttered. 關閉幾個窗口，屏幕就不會那么雜亂了。
At first sight it looked less like a capital city than a mining camp. 乍看上去，它不像是首府，更像是礦工村
