Difference between less and fewer

When I was in the grocery store the other day, I noticed the express checkout line had a sign that read “9 items or less”. Interestingly enough, I have seen the same thing at different stores. This is a problem.

Less

We use less when we can’t quantify something (i.e. less air, less water, less grass).

Fewer

When we can quantify something, like the number of grocery items in one’s cart, we should use fewer (i.e. fewer vials of air, fewer glasses of water, fewer blades of grass).

Is the grocery industry going to end up destroying English grammar as we know it?

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.

4 comments

  1. Cool posting, please more of that! I’m not a native speaker — my native tongue is German — but I love little hints like that. That’s why I’ve started a thread about similar things on my homepage. Thanks!

Comments are closed.