User:Curly Turkey/More than


 * The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style
 * over/more than
 * While working as a newspaper editor in the late 19th century, William CuUen Bryant forbade the use of over in the sense of "more than," as in These rocks are over 5 million years old. Bryant provided no rationale for this injunction, but such was his stature that the stipulation was championed by other American editors, who also felt no reason to offer an explanation.  Later usage critics allowed the usage in some contexts, but their reasons are dubious at best.  In point of fact, over has been used as a synonym of more than since the 1300s. Since no reasonable justification for its ban has ever been expounded, it may be safely ignored.


 * New Hart's Rules:
 * In expressing approximate figures some styles traditionally preferred more than to over. Modern usage tends to treat them as synonyms:
 * She was born in Oxford and has lived in Ireland for over twenty-five years
 * She was born in Oxford and has lived in Ireland for more than twenty-five years
 * although there are certain contexts in which one or the other is syntactically correct:
 * We spent a lot of time together, well over two months, and so we really got to know each other
 * There's more than one way of tackling this problem
 * or sounds more natural, e.g. in reference to age:
 * Applicants must be over 25 and have had a clean driving licence for more than five years


 * The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 5th Edition:
 * over, more than. Both constuctions are acceptable in estimates, regardless whether the object is countable; over half of voters; over 25 years; more than a million votes; more than 60 percent.  But note that context and idiom often dictate which term is used: more than one opinion; people over 65; just over a year.