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Using all, both and half with nouns and pronouns.
All, both and half are determiners that express totality or division.
They are used before nouns to refer to complete groups, two members or equal parts.
All refers to every member or the whole amount of a group.
It can be used with plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
Both refers to the two members of a pair.
It is used only with plural countable nouns.
Half refers to one of two equal parts.
It may be used with singular, plural and uncountable nouns depending on the context.
These determiners are commonly followed by of before pronouns and specific noun phrases.
Examples include all of the students, both of us and half of the cake.
All may appear before articles, demonstratives and possessives.
Examples include all the books, all these problems and all my friends.
All, both and half follow specific word-order patterns in noun phrases.
The choice between forms with and without of depends on the noun phrase that follows.
Verb agreement depends on the noun phrase following these determiners.
Plural nouns normally take plural verbs, while uncountable nouns take singular verbs.
All and both can be used for emphasis in various sentence patterns.
Examples include They both agreed and We all enjoyed the concert.
The use of all, both and half is generally consistent across spoken and written English.
Certain shortened forms are more common in conversation.
These determiners occur in many common expressions.
Examples include all day, all year, both sides, half the time and half past six.
Choose all, both and half according to meaning and noun type.
Common mistakes include omitting of where required, using both with more than two items and incorrect agreement with uncountable nouns.