“This checkout—20 items or less” - Adjective and adverb attitudes

Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

“This checkout—20 items or less”
Adjective and adverb attitudes

LESS VERSUS FEWER

No matter which grocery checkout aisle is under discussion, the people in line don’t have 20 items or less. That’s not because you picked the wrong lane again. It’s just a point of grammar. If you can count the items, the people have fewer or more, not less. If the nature of any item makes it impossible to count, refer to it with the words less and more.

Example:

I have less time than I used to, less inclination to do what I don’t want to do, and less willpower to put up with poor customer service when traveling. But I get fewer opportunities than ever to kick back and take long vacations. In fact, fewer workers in all industries take their full vacations these days because of heavy workloads. Maybe if fewer employers were willing to give up personal time to check their BlackBerries, iPhones, or Treos hourly to stay in touch with the office, then there would be less stress and more peace around the place. Then when people returned to work, fewer hours would be wasted on nonproductive activities.

Reverse this logic to remember it: That is, you’d never say, “I have fewer help today than I’m going to need to finish my project.” “Pongo has fewer experience in management than he needs to be considered for this promotion.” “You have given fewer attention to these skills than is required to do a good job.”

So if you don’t use fewer with singular words like help, experience, or attention, neither do you use less with plural words like employees, hours, or cars.

Memory tip

If you can count it, use fewer. If not, use less.