5.134 approximate duration

If you want to be less precise about how long something lasts, you can use one of the following approximating adverbs or approximating expressions: 'about', 'almost', 'nearly', 'around', 'more than', 'less than', and so on.

• The family had controlled the time for more than a century.
• They have not been allowed to form unions for almost a decade.
• The three of us travelled around together for about a month that summer.
• In less than a year, I learned enough Latin to pass the entrance exam.
• He had been in command of HMS Churchill for nearly a year.

When making a general statement about the duration of something, you can indicate the maximum period of time that it will last or take by using 'up to'.

• Refresher training for up to one month each year was the rule for all.

You can also use expressions such as 'or so', 'or more', 'or less', 'or thereabouts' to make the duration less specific.

• He has been writing about tennis and golf for forty years or so.
• Our species probably practised it for a million years or more.
• ...hopes which have prevailed so strongly for a century or more.

'Almost', 'about', 'nearly', and 'thereabouts' are also used when talking about when an event takes place; see paragraph 5.99 for details of this.