Fewer vs Less

A woman (no comma) having few pretensions to her own righteous convictions is far more willing to learn.

Thank you very much. But I still don't know whether the two given sentences are grammatical. If yes, how do they differ in meaning?

The sentence below talks about women in general, as compared to men. Women are usually less pretentious than men, and so are more willing to learn new things. It is more of a philosophical statement.

A woman, having less pretension (than a man), is far more willing to learn.

The sentence below talks about specific women (or a woman) who, compared to her peers, have fe

AlpheccaStarstheir peers.

By 'peers' do you mean other women of the same social group?

Persian LearnerBy 'peers' do you mean other women of the same social group?

No, not necessarily.

All in all, with the definitions you gave, I think 'less pretension' makes more sense for the following context, because it's a kind of comparison between men and women's general attitude. (Since women have less pretension than men, they are more willing to learn.)

I wish you had posted the source in your original quote.

The language has changed since 1928, especially in expressing nuances like "less pretentious," "having fewer pretensions." These are stylistic differences rather than differences in meaning. "Pretension" can be used as a non-count as well as a count noun.

AlpheccaStarsI wish you had posted the source in your original quote.

Sorry for the inconvenience.