In the world of nouns there exist count nouns and mass nouns; in Wal-Mart, only mass nouns exist. I guess the that the members of Wal-Mart corporate have lost sight of their products as individual items, or perhaps they, along with many other big businesses, are simply guilty of large scale grammatical infraction. The grammar violation I am referring to is, of course, the “10 items or less” check out aisle. This seems to have become the standard label used to attract shoppers who plan on buying only a few items. I find it hard to believe that such a blatant and consistent mistake could be made on such a large scale.
But what exactly makes my local grocery store and Wal-Mart incorrect? And what should the Aisle sign read? Well, it’s like I said earlier; Wal-Mart apparently does not have a great hold on the concept of mass nouns and count nouns. A count noun is anything that is discrete or can be counted, they always use fewer when described as such.
Example: fish, beans, cars, jokes, countries, ITEMS, etc.
“Frank caught fewer fish than Joaquin today.”
A mass noun is something that cannot be counted in individual units and that you don’t make plural. Mass nouns are described with less
Example: water, clutter, traffic, communication, noise, trust etc.
“There is always less traffic on Tuesday.”
In some cases, certain words can be tricky. Water is one of the examples that I used for mass nouns, and yes, it is correct to say, “The plants need less water,” but what if you mean to refer to cups, or bottles of water? Well, it would then be incorrect to say, “The plant needs less cups of water” or “the plant needs less waters.” I said earlier that mass nouns are never plural, and I was telling the truth. While the word “waters” is plural it has been made into a measurable unit and has been transformed into a count noun instead of a mass noun. Other notorious examples are “money” and “time,” which are in fact mass nouns, except when defined as units or specific quantities.
“Tom had took less time to finish the exam than Gordon.” OR “Tom took fewer hours to finish the exam than Gordon.”
“Reuben had less money after visiting the casino.” OR “Reuben had fewer dollars after visiting the casino.”
With these basic rules in mind, I hope you have figured out by now that all of these speedy checkout aisles should read, “10 items or fewer.”
I do not make the argument that all of these aisles should read “10 items or fewer,” just that they should not read “10 items or less.” I see no problem with signs reading “up to ten items” or “As many as 10 items.” These alternative signs are perhaps wordier, but would in fact help Wal-Mart have fewer grammatical errors.
Count and mass nouns are not just an issue for “10 items or fewer” aisle, the media are a culprit as well. All too often, news reporters and radio hosts fail to abide by the laws of count and mass nouns. This time the major problem is not “fewer versus less” but “amount versus number.”
Just as a count noun is described with “fewer,” it is also described with the word “number” when talking about its quantity.
“ The number of car crashes this year was alarming.”
“ Francis assumed a number of people would walk by.”
The word “amount” is used in the same way for mass nouns, but since mass nouns have no quantity, “amount” is used to describe their extent.
“The amount of confusion was significant.”
“Jerome knew that the amount of noise was enough to get him in trouble.”
So, with this new noun issue in mind, I hope you too will pick up on the frequent errors in news. The next time a news anchor says, “The amount of deaths was shocking,” or “no amount of words can describe this tragedy,” you will know that he is grammatically incorrect.
I hope that I have made the issue at hand clear by now- to help you gage your amount of understanding, here is a link to a count and mass noun quiz I hope you will enjoy
But what exactly makes my local grocery store and Wal-Mart incorrect? And what should the Aisle sign read? Well, it’s like I said earlier; Wal-Mart apparently does not have a great hold on the concept of mass nouns and count nouns. A count noun is anything that is discrete or can be counted, they always use fewer when described as such.
Example: fish, beans, cars, jokes, countries, ITEMS, etc.
“Frank caught fewer fish than Joaquin today.”
A mass noun is something that cannot be counted in individual units and that you don’t make plural. Mass nouns are described with less
Example: water, clutter, traffic, communication, noise, trust etc.
“There is always less traffic on Tuesday.”
In some cases, certain words can be tricky. Water is one of the examples that I used for mass nouns, and yes, it is correct to say, “The plants need less water,” but what if you mean to refer to cups, or bottles of water? Well, it would then be incorrect to say, “The plant needs less cups of water” or “the plant needs less waters.” I said earlier that mass nouns are never plural, and I was telling the truth. While the word “waters” is plural it has been made into a measurable unit and has been transformed into a count noun instead of a mass noun. Other notorious examples are “money” and “time,” which are in fact mass nouns, except when defined as units or specific quantities.
“Tom had took less time to finish the exam than Gordon.” OR “Tom took fewer hours to finish the exam than Gordon.”
“Reuben had less money after visiting the casino.” OR “Reuben had fewer dollars after visiting the casino.”
With these basic rules in mind, I hope you have figured out by now that all of these speedy checkout aisles should read, “10 items or fewer.”
I do not make the argument that all of these aisles should read “10 items or fewer,” just that they should not read “10 items or less.” I see no problem with signs reading “up to ten items” or “As many as 10 items.” These alternative signs are perhaps wordier, but would in fact help Wal-Mart have fewer grammatical errors.
Count and mass nouns are not just an issue for “10 items or fewer” aisle, the media are a culprit as well. All too often, news reporters and radio hosts fail to abide by the laws of count and mass nouns. This time the major problem is not “fewer versus less” but “amount versus number.”
Just as a count noun is described with “fewer,” it is also described with the word “number” when talking about its quantity.
“ The number of car crashes this year was alarming.”
“ Francis assumed a number of people would walk by.”
The word “amount” is used in the same way for mass nouns, but since mass nouns have no quantity, “amount” is used to describe their extent.
“The amount of confusion was significant.”
“Jerome knew that the amount of noise was enough to get him in trouble.”
So, with this new noun issue in mind, I hope you too will pick up on the frequent errors in news. The next time a news anchor says, “The amount of deaths was shocking,” or “no amount of words can describe this tragedy,” you will know that he is grammatically incorrect.
I hope that I have made the issue at hand clear by now- to help you gage your amount of understanding, here is a link to a count and mass noun quiz I hope you will enjoy
Many people have chosen to join the fight in favor of correct mass and count noun use, Trader Joes is one example of a business that recognizes the correctness of “10 items or fewer” aisles.
I hope you too can help to stop “less” and “amount” from invading the territory of count nouns before they become the norm. To see what others involved in the fight have to say and for more information, check out some of my sources.
I hope you too can help to stop “less” and “amount” from invading the territory of count nouns before they become the norm. To see what others involved in the fight have to say and for more information, check out some of my sources.
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