half
- half of
used in front of noun phrases
Half or half of an amount or object is one of the two equal parts that together make up the whole amount or object.
You use half or half of in front of a noun phrase beginning with a determiner. Half is more common.
He had finished about half his drink.
She is allowed to keep half of her tips.
She'd known me half her life.
For half of his adult life he has lived in Tokyo.
Be careful
Don't say ‘the half of’.
Don't say ‘the half of’.
In front of measurement words like metre, kilogram, or hour, you always use half, not ‘half of’.
They were nearly half a mile away.
The fault was fixed in half an hour.
They had been friends for about half a century.
Use half of in front of pronouns. Don't use ‘half’.
The waitress brought the drink, and Ellen drank half of it immediately.
More than half of them have gone back to their home towns.
Be careful
Don't use ‘they’ or ‘we’ after half of. Instead use them or us.
Don't use ‘they’ or ‘we’ after half of. Instead use them or us.
Half of them have had no education at all.
If production goes down by half, half of us lose our jobs.
When you use half or half of in front of a singular noun or pronoun, you use a singular form of a verb after the noun or pronoun.
Half her property belongs to him.
Half of it was destroyed in a fire.
When you use half or half of in front of a plural noun or pronoun, you use a plural form of a verb after the noun or pronoun.
Half my friends have children.
Half of them were still married.
used as a pronoun
Half can be a pronoun.
Roughly half are French and roughly half are from North America.
Half of the money is for you, half is for me.
used as a noun
You can also use half as a noun to talk about a particular part of something.
The house was built in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Philip rented an apartment in the top half of a two-storey house.