reading-aloudtime-words
I'm a bit confused in describing 1.5hrs in words.
Is writing one and a half an hour correct or should it be one and half hour?
E.g:
I'll see you there in one and a half an hour.
OR
I'll see you there in one and half hour.
Or is there any other correct way of writing this?
The 'rule' is that you change temporal references if the facts require it.
For instance, ago designates a timespan whose end lies at ‘Speech time’ (ST), the time a speech is uttered. If the STs of the speech and the report lie within the same timeframe, there is no need to adjust the reference:
“I joined the company three years ago.”
Mr. Jones said yesterday that he joined the company three years ago.
But if the STs of the speech and the report lie within different timeframes, the reference may have to be adjusted.
“I joined the company three years ago.”
Mr. Jones said in 1993 that he had joined the company three years before. —or ‘previously’ or ‘earlier’ or something of the sort.“I joined the company exactly three years ago, to the day.”
Mr. Jones said yesterday that he had joined the company exactly three years before, to the day.
Other terms which refer to ST Terms—tomorrow, yesterday, last year, next week—similarly require adjustment when STs get out of synch.
“We can deliver next week.”
He said this morning that they can deliver next week.
He said two weeks ago that they could deliver the next week. or ‘the following week’, OR
He said two weeks ago that they could deliver last week.
You have several options:
These are all correct.
The hyphens in the last two are optional to some degree depending on the source. Including it is arguably more correct.
one and half is not correct... usually. Based on your comments, it looks like you're seeing it used in technical, electrical system uses:
In this case, it may be correct but I don't see any evidence that they would ever write it out as 1.5.
Best Answer
In general, for some number of hours, plus some fraction of an hour, you'd use the number, plus the fraction, plus "hours", plural. "Four and a half hours.", "Three and three-quarters hours," etc.
However, for the specific case of 1.5 hours, the usual expression is "an hour and a half". This usage is so common that "One and a half hours" actually sounds strange.