WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: "Ten Items or Less"

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Learn about a common grammar error on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and there's a sign at many grocery store checkout lines that is just appalling. Have you ever been to a self-checkout that says 10 items or less? Yep, that's it. If you're a long-time listener of this podcast, you already know what I'm about to say. It should be 10 items or fewer. Here's your almost monthly reminder that fewer is used for countable items, including, well, items. And less is used for uncountable things like espresso,

or grains of wheat. This means you can say fewer kernels of wheat, but less wheat. There's another interesting exception, which is time. You have less time, but fewer times depending on how you're using the word. Here's a tough edge case scenario, though. Is it fewer than 20 minutes left or less than 20 minutes left? I have no idea. Good luck. That's your Grammar Minute.

Visit thegrammerminut.com for more tips and tricks.