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Example sentence:

I won't stay long/for long, I promise.

Is one option more idiomatic than the other? Or both are idiomatic?

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I won't stay long is definitely the idiomatic way of expressing it. I won't stay for long does exist but is much more rare.

Note that

We use long as an adverb in questions and negative clauses to talk about duration. We don’t use long on its own in affirmative clauses. We often use (for) a long time:

  • We waited for a long time in the rain for the bus.
    Not: … waited long … (Cambridge)
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  • Thanks for the explanation. One question. In the phrase: "No matter how long she waited ..." It's not technically a question, but the (for) is omitted because of the "how"?
    – wyc
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 15:36
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    It is an embedded question, but an indirect one. So yes, you can use here "ong" on its own because of how. As in "I don't know how long she waited."
    – fev
    Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 15:50

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