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Health & Fitness

The Difference Between Less and Fewer

Welcome to The Grammar Guide, a blog to help you get the answers to your nagging grammar questions.

You may have heard the news that Jewel will soon begin remodeling their store in north Elmhurst. While I am sure most shoppers will be excited to try out the new cheese shop and olive bar, I—being a grammar enthusiast—will be excited to see whether they’ll finally correct a long-time error on their signage.

In Jewel’s defense, probably every grocery store in the United States at one time had a checkout lane designated for 10 items or less; however, over the years, many stores have corrected their grammar blunder. The correct phrase is actually 10 items or fewer.

The difference between less and fewer is really quite easy. While both words relate to a small amount, you should use fewer when you can count the difference and less when you cannot.

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For example:
Because of all the rain, fewer baseball games have been played than planned. In fact, the rain has resulted in less outdoor activity all-around.

I called this 10 items or less situation a grammar blunder, but there are the conspiracy theorists who think grocery stores use less on purpose, even though it is grammatically incorrect, because less has fewer letters than fewer, and therefore the signs cost less to make.

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If you consider how many signs a chain grocery store has to buy, I suppose this theory could hold water. For myself, I hate to think the bottom line would affect what’s right. I hope it was just an oversight. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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