Half of the people went to private schools.
I had crossed more than half of America.
plural fractions
2.243 If the fraction is plural, you put a cardinal number in front of a plural form of the ordinal number or special fraction word quarter.
…the poorer two thirds of the world.
The journey is going to take three quarters of an hour.
…four fifths of the money.
Nine tenths of them live on the land.
…3 millionths of a centimetre.
When half is used with whole numbers or amounts, it is used with the determiner a.
…one and a half acres of land.
…four and a half centuries.
agreement with verb
2.244 When you talk about fractions of a single thing, you use a singular form of a verb afterwards.
Half of our work is to design programmes.
Two thirds of the planet’s surface is covered with water.
Two fifths of the forest was removed.
However, when you talk about fractions of a number of things, you use a plural form of a verb afterwards.
Two thirds of Chad’s exports were cotton.
A quarter of the students were seen individually.
More than half of these photographs are of her.
fractions as pronouns
2.245 When it is clear to your listener or reader who or what you are referring to, either because of the context or because you and your listener or reader know what is meant, you can use fractions as pronouns without the of and noun after them.
Of the people who work here, half are French and half are English.
Two thirds were sterilized.
One sixth are disappointed with the service.
numbers followed by fractions
2.246 Besides their use as quantity expressions linked by of to a noun phrase, fractions can also be used after a whole number or amount plus and, with a noun placed after the fraction. The noun must be plural even if the number is one.
You’ve got to sit there for one and a half hours.
…five and a quarter days.
…more than four and a half centuries ago
If you are using a instead of one, the and and the fraction come after the noun.
…a mile and a half below the surface.
…a mile and a quarter of motorway.
half as predeterminer
2.247 Besides being used with of as a quantity expression, half is also used as a predeterminer (see paragraph 1.251), directly in front of a determiner.
I met half the girls at the conference.
The farmers sold off half their land.
…half a pound of coffee.
…half a bottle of milk.
Note that half is always used with of before a pronoun (see paragraph 2.242).
fractions expressed in figures
2.248 You can write a fraction in figures, for example 1/2, 1/4, 3/4, and 2/3. These correspond to a half, a quarter, three quarters and two thirds respectively.
expressing percentages
2.249 Fractions are often given in a special form as a number of hundredths. This type of fraction is called a percentage. For example, three hundredths, expressed as a percentage, is three per cent. It can also be written as three percent or 3%. A half can be expressed as fifty per cent, fifty percent, or 50%.
90 percent of most food is water.
About 20 per cent of student accountants are women.
Before 1960 45% of British trade was with the Commonwealth.
You use percentages on their own as noun phrases when it is clear what they refer to.
Ninety per cent were self employed.
…interest at 10% per annum.
Talking about measurements
2.250 You can refer to a size, distance, area, volume, weight, speed, or temperature by using a number or quantity expression in front of a measurement noun. Measurement nouns are countable.
They grow to twenty feet.
…blocks of stone weighing up to a hundred tons.
Reduce the temperature by a few degrees.
Average annual temperatures exceed 20° centigrade.
Other ways of expressing distance are explained in paragraphs 6.91 to 6.92. Measurement nouns referring to size, area, volume, and weight are often used in partitive structures (see paragraphs 2.194 to 2.207) such as a pint of milk and a pound of onions. They are also used in phrases beginning with of (see paragraph 2.283).
imperial and metric measurements
2.251 There are two systems of measurement used in Britain – the imperial system and the metric system. Each system has its own measurement nouns.
Here is a list of the imperial units of measurement indicating size, distance, area, volume, and weight:
inch
foot
yard
mile
~
acre
~
pint
quart
gallon
~
ounce
pound
stone
hundredweight
ton
Note that the plural of foot is feet, but foot can also be used with numbers. Similarly stone is usually used instead of stones.
Here is a list of the metric units of measurement indicating size, distance, area, volume, and weight:
millimetre
centimetre
metre
kilometre
~
hectare
~
millilitre
centilitre
litre
~
milligram
gram
kilogram
tonne
after linking verbs
2.252 Measurement nouns are often used after linking verbs such as be, measure and weigh.