Approximate amounts and measurements

2.281 If you do not know the exact number, size, or quantity of something, you can give an approximate amount or measurement using one of a group of special words and expressions. Some of these words and expressions are put in front of a quantity and some are put after it.

Here is a list of some of the words and expressions used to give approximate amounts and measurements:

about almost a maximum of a minimum of approximately around at least

at most at the maximum at the most less than maximum minimum more than

nearly no more than odd or less or more or so or thereabouts

or under over roughly some something like under up to

2.282 Some of these indicate that a number is a minimum figure and that the actual figure is or may be larger.

Here is a list of expressions which indicate a minimum number:

a minimum of at least

minimum more than

or more over

plus

2.283 You put 'a minimum of', 'more than', and 'over' in front of a number.

He needed a minimum of 26 Democratic votes.

...a school with more than 1300 pupils.

The British have been on the island for over a thousand years.

You put 'or more' and 'plus' after a number or amount, and 'minimum' after an amount.

...a choice of three or more possibilities.

This is the worst disaster I can remember in my 25 years plus as a police officer.

They should be getting £38 a week minimum.

You put 'at least' in front of a number or after a number or amount.

She had at least a dozen brandies.

I must have slept twelve hours at least!

2.284 Some of these expressions are used to indicate that a number is a maximum figure and that the actual figure is or may be smaller.

Here is a list of expressions which indicate a maximum number:

almost a maximum of at most at the maximum

at the most less than maximum nearly

no more than or less or under under

up to

USAGE NOTE 2.285 You put 'almost', 'a maximum of', 'less than', 'nearly', 'no more than', 'under', and 'up to' in front of a number.

The company now supplies almost 100 of Paris's restaurants.

These loans must be repaid over a maximum of three years.

...a puppy less than seven weeks old.

She had nearly fifty dollars.

We managed to finish the entire job in under three months.

Their bodies might be up to a metre wide.

You put 'at the maximum', 'at most', 'at the most', 'maximum', 'or less', and 'or under' after a number.

They might have IQs of 10 or 50 at the maximum.

The images take thirty-six hours maximum.

The area would yield only 200 pounds of rice or less.

...12 hours a week or under.

expressing approximate amounts 2.286 Some of these expressions are used to indicate that a number is approximate and that the actual figure could be larger or smaller.

Here is a list of the expressions indicating that a number is approximate:

about approximately around

odd or so or thereabouts

roughly some something like

USAGE NOTE 2.287 You put 'about', 'approximately', 'around', 'roughly', 'some', and 'something like' in front of a number.

About 85 students were there.

Every year we have approximately 40 pupils who take mathematics.

It would cost around 35 million pounds.

It costs roughly £55 a year to keep a cat in food.

They have to pay America some $683,000 this year.

Harrington has cheated us out of something like thirty thousand quid over the past two years.

You put 'odd' and 'or so' after a number or amount, and 'or thereabouts' after an amount.

...a hundred odd acres.

For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke.

Get the temperature to 30C or thereabouts.

2.288 You can indicate a range of numbers using 'between' and 'and', or 'from' and 'to', or just 'to'.

Most of the farms around here are between four and five hundred years old.

My hospital groups contain from ten to twenty patients.

...peasants owning two to five acres of land.

Note the use of 'anything' before 'between' and 'from', to emphasize how great the range is.

An average rate of anything between 25 and 60 per cent is usual.

It is a job that takes anything from two to five weeks.