There is someone wrong in America
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Miszou wrote:
what is wrong with it?
It's "less" when talking about things you can't count as such, but still have magnitude, "fewer" when they can be counted. There is less liquid in my coffee cup than in a swimming pool. There are fewer people in England than in America.
So in that regard would you consider, "Fewer than 11 items" acceptable. ;P
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]
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So in that regard would you consider, "Fewer than 11 items" acceptable. ;P
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]
Fewer than eleven but more than zero items
I'm largely language agnostic
After a while they all bug me :doh:
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Fewer than eleven but more than zero items
I'm largely language agnostic
After a while they all bug me :doh:
The 0 > nItems > 11 lane.
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peart -
Why is it that opinion articles about bad English usage are always so badly written? Give me a hard copy of that article, and it will end up with so much blue pencil on it that you'd think it were printed on blue paper. (To bring that up to date: Give me a copy in Word, and there's be so many tracked changes that you'd think it was written in balloons in the right margin.)
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Brilliant, I hope they find whoever was responsible for the "10 items or less" lane at tesco and bring them to book! Russell
Russell Jones wrote:
I hope they find whoever was responsible for the "10 items or less" lane at tesco and bring them to book!
Speaking from a purely grammatical (i.e. not stylistic-snobbery) viewpoint, anyone who says that nine is not less than ten should not even be allowed in the same room as a computer. Try not to confuse grammar and style.
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Miszou wrote:
what is wrong with it?
It's "less" when talking about things you can't count as such, but still have magnitude, "fewer" when they can be counted. There is less liquid in my coffee cup than in a swimming pool. There are fewer people in England than in America.
Graham Bradshaw wrote:
It's "less" when talking about things you can't count as such, but still have magnitude, "fewer" when they can be counted.
That is a widely accepted stylistic view, true, but it has nothing to do with actual semantics. "Ten items or less" is perfectly acceptable English.
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The 0 > nItems > 11 lane.
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peartbrianwelsch wrote:
The 0 > nItems > 11 lane
Number of items is less than zero and more than eleven? :-D
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brianwelsch wrote:
The 0 > nItems > 11 lane
Number of items is less than zero and more than eleven? :-D
:-O Oops. I guess that means it's time to head home.
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peart -
Graham Bradshaw wrote:
It's "less" when talking about things you can't count as such, but still have magnitude, "fewer" when they can be counted.
That is a widely accepted stylistic view, true, but it has nothing to do with actual semantics. "Ten items or less" is perfectly acceptable English.
No, it's snot.