Ahalfis one of two equal parts of something:
Halfan orange.
The plural ofhalfishalves, pronounced/hɑ:vz/:
She cut it into twohalves.
Halfin noun phrases
We can usehalfandhalf ofbefore nouns with the definite article (the), possessives (my, your) and demonstratives (this, that):
We spenthalfthe time talking. It was an absolute waste of time for all of us.
Why don’t you havehalfmy chocolate?
At leasthalf ofthose books can be sold.
Half of, nothalf, can occur with a pronoun as head of the noun phrase:
Almosthalf of uswere not allowed to vote. It was completely unfair.
Half, nothalf of, is used in the patternhalf a/anand is followed by a noun of measurement:
It’s at leasthalf a kilometreto those shops.
Not: …half of a kilometre… or …half kilometre…
It’ll take mehalf an hourso I’ll see you at the club.
Not: …half of an hour… or …half hour…
Halfas an adverb
We can usehalfas an adverb which means ‘not completely’, ‘partly’:
She’shalfFrench andhalfAlgerian.
The theatre wasn’t evenhalffull.
She is nothalfas clever as her sister.
Halfas a noun
It took them a day and ahalfto reach the top of the mountain.
He’s lecturing on English painting in the firsthalfof the nineteenth century.
It looks like it’s broken but we should be able to glue the twohalvestogether.
Halfas an adjective
They’re offering the flowers for almosthalfprice.
Children under sixteen can travelhalffare on trains.