Now is

[dido4]

The original sentence is:
-->It's already half past twelve now.

Q: Can we rewrite it like this:
---> Now is already half past twelve.

Thank you

[Barb_D]

No.

The next train leaves at 12:45. We'll never make that one because it's already half past 12 now.

You could say "When I got here, it was 11:15. Now, it's half past 12. If he hasn't come in over an hour, he's not coming at all."

But you can't say "Now is half past 12."