In order to determine if an atom will have the tendency of gaining or losing electrons, the valence electrons will be really important in this situation, this is because of the octet rule, which states that an atom will be stabilized when it has 8 electrons on its valence shell, therefore one atom with 7 electrons will be very electronegative, and will gain electrons, and one atom with 1 electron, will rather lose this 1 electron than gain 7 electrons.
The answers will be: fewer; more