Stupid question about English language

[boroda]

What are the correct phrases?

1. "couple years" or "couple of years"?
2. "half year" or "half of year"?

[Gendji]

Not a native English speaking person but i would say,

1. Couple of years.

But apparently there is a difference between BE en AE in regard to the spoken word. In writing it seems to be couple of years.

2. Half a year, depending how it's used in a sentence:

After half a year of searching i finally found... or
The first half year of my search....

And in regard to of year: the second half of the year we......

But like i said not a native English speaker

[karbock]

• a couple of ... is standard (= 2 ...), couple of ... is informal (UK/US)
  I'm going to stay there for a couple of weeks.
• half a(n) ...
  He called half an hour ago.
• a half ... is rare, and used only for common units
  * a half year = a semester
  * a half pint of ale
  * a half inch
  * the half-life of carbon 14
  
  So, "half a bottle" is the normal form. "We've drunk half a bottle of wine" means that, from the 750-ml bottle, roughly 375 ml is left.
  Whereas "a half bottle" is a reduced format for restaurants: the full bottle contains 375ml.

[boroda]

@karbock, thanks a lot. these nuances are important and sometime annoying to me 

[phred]

@karbock, thanks a lot. these nuances are important and sometime annoying to me  

As a native English speaker, I agree with karbock. And these nuances are annoying to me also.

To a non-native English speaker, this is not a stupid question. American English is so screwed up that even native speakers can't always get it right.

[karbock]

Yes, English can be weird.
It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.  

[phred]

It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.  

Exactly!!!
Not to mention read, red, read.

[boroda]

Not to mention read, red, read.

what about moon, blood, door? 

[boroda]

As a native English speaker, I agree with karbock.

thanks for confirmation by the native English speaker

[boroda]

p.s. the problem is that for russian 2 forms are possible (i translate them literally): "halfyear" (single noun) and "half of a year" (both 'half' and 'year' are nouns)

[Música]

What are the correct phrases?

1. "couple years" or "couple of years"?
2. "half year" or "half of year"?

It's a second language for me, but as such, I had to learn it more formally than more or most.

I agree with Gendji, that "couple of years" and "half a year" are appropriate in your choice sets, although I'd expand on karbok and suggest that both "couple" uses are informal or even slangy. Particularly in writing, I would use "two (or 2) years" or "six (or 6) months". If the intent or point is to be imprecise, it is better to say or write "about two (or 2) years" or "about six (or 6) months."

By the by, "half a year", in common usage or parlance, is quite rare: I don't believe I'd ever heard nor read that time frame applied. To wit, to me, "half a year" is slangy or informal enough that I'd barely distinguish it from "half year", although the context could matter.   

[hiccup]

And don't forget about American vs. British English.

About half a year ago
Some six months ago

[phred]

And don't forget about American vs. British English.

Color vs Colour.
While vs whilst.

[boroda]

thanks to all. actually, these aspects are very interesting, even though they don't relate to music. (i.e. may be some kind of off-topic on this forum)

[boroda]

And don't forget about American vs. British English.

Color vs Colour.
While vs whilst.

USA & GB are different counties at least. i sometimes (i'm living in Moscow) don't understand what citizens of St. Petersburg say. St. Petersburg is the Russian informal second capital, located not too far from Moscow: "бордюр" in Moscow ("bordur" - transliteration, "edging" or "border" in English?) vs. "поребрик" ("porebrik" - transliteration) in St. Petersburg; "батон" ("baton") in Moscow vs. "булка" ("bulka") in St. Petersburg - "baton" in English.