some

   Many journalists of a certain age appear to have had it drilled into them that some in the sense of an unknown or unquantifiable number is a casualism to be avoided at all costs, as in "There were some forty passengers on the ship." The belief is without any real basis. The sense of approximately or about has long been well established. However, there is at least one good reason for regarding the word with suspicion. Consider this passage from a New York Times article: "Since 1981, according to Hewitt s survey of some 530 companies, some 24,000 employees quit jobs under such plans. Last year alone, some 74 plans were in effect." Particularly when used repeatedly, the word lends writing a timid and equivocal ring, leaving the impression that the reporter lacked the resolve or initiative to find out just how many companies, plans, and employees actually were involved. "Some forty passengers" and the like are defensible when the reference is incidental or in passing, but when the figures are integral to a discussion, some can look decidedly slapdash and is generally better replaced by more positive expressions: "more than 500 companies," "an estimated 24,000 employees," "at least 70 plans." In any case, the writer could delete the middle some in the example above ("some 24,000 employees") without the slightest danger of being overrash. Large round numbers are normally construed as being approximate. You do not need to qualify them.