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MMD > Archives > November 1999 > 1999.11.01 > 10Prev  Next


Grammar At The Grocery Store
By D. L. Bullock

Thank you, Paddy Handscombe, for your mini grammar lesson.  I find
those items to be one of my pet peeves.

My other pet peeve is the grocery express lane that has the sign
"20 items or less", while correct usage would be "20 items or fewer."
This is correctly used in only one grocery store that I know of:
Meijers, a large American chain in the Midwest.  "Less" would refer
to volumes or amounts, while "fewer" would refer to items or numbers
of things.

I have to also mention that "further" is _not_ interchangeable with
"farther."  One may "further a cause", or use further to add a thought
to a previous statement as a short version of "furthermore."  One may
_not_ use a Kodak product to take photography "further", as is in their
illiterate TV ads.  You would have to take photography "farther."

Good to get this off my chest.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis

 [ My big old 1927 dictionary comments:
 [
 [ "The forms 'further' and 'farther' are not always differentiated
 [ by writers, but 'further' is preferred by most for reference to
 [ time, quantity, or degree, and 'farther' for spatial distance."
 [
 [ It follows that the 1927 photographer, with his fixed-focus
 [ Kodak Box Brownie, might further his proficiency by stepping
 [ farther from his subject!  -- Robbie


(Message sent Mon 1 Nov 1999, 10:20:27 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Grammar, Grocery, Store

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