half of

◊ used in front of noun groups

Half or half of an amount or object is one of the two equal parts that together make up the whole amount or object.

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You use half or half of in front of a noun group beginning with a determiner. Half is more common.

He had finished about half his drink.

He drank half of his beer.

She'd known me half her life.

For half of her adult life she has been pregnant.

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Note that in standard English you do not say `the half of'.

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In front of measurement words like `metre', `kilogram', or `hour', you always use half, not `half of'.

They were nearly half a mile away.

Boyd Stuart waited in an empty sitting-room for half an hour before the Director came in.

They had been friends for about half a century.

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You use half of in front of pronouns. You do not use `half'.

The waitress brought the drink she had ordered, and Ellen drank half of it immediately.

More than half of them have gone back to their home towns.

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Note that you do not use `they' or `we' after half of. Instead you 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.

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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 exposed above water.

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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 jobs and wives and children.

Half of them were still married.

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◊ used as a pronoun

Half can itself be used as a pronoun.

Roughly half are French and roughly half are from North America.

...some of the money for you, half for me.

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◊ used as a noun

You can also use half as a noun to talk about a particular part of something.

...the first half of the eighteenth century.

Philip Swallow rented an apartment in the top half of a two-storey house.

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