2.285 USAGE NOTE

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.