Use the distributive property.

Combine like terms

Multiply $ \dfrac{-1}{2} $ by $ x $ to get $ \dfrac{ -x }{ 2 } $.

Step 1: Write $ x $ as a fraction by putting $ \color{red}{ 1 } $ in the denominator.

Step 2: Multiply numerators and denominators.

Step 3: Simplify numerator and denominator.

$$ \begin{aligned} \frac{-1}{2} \cdot x & \xlongequal{\text{Step 1}} \frac{-1}{2} \cdot \frac{x}{\color{red}{1}} \xlongequal{\text{Step 2}} \frac{ \left( -1 \right) \cdot x }{ 2 \cdot 1 } = \\[1ex] & \xlongequal{\text{Step 3}} \frac{ -x }{ 2 } \end{aligned} $$

Subtract $8$ from $ \dfrac{-x}{2} $ to get $ \dfrac{ \color{purple}{ -x-16 } }{ 2 }$.

Step 1: Write $ 8 $ as a fraction by putting $ \color{red}{ 1 } $ in the denominator.

Step 2: To subtract raitonal expressions, both fractions must have the same denominator.
We can create a common denominator by multiplying the second fraction by $\color{blue}{2}$.

$$ \begin{aligned} \frac{-x}{2} -8 & \xlongequal{\text{Step 1}} \frac{-x}{2} - \frac{8}{\color{red}{1}} = \frac{ -x }{ 2 } - \frac{ 8 \cdot \color{blue}{ 2 }}{ 1 \cdot \color{blue}{ 2 }} = \\[1ex] & \xlongequal{\text{Step 2}} \frac{ \color{purple}{ -x } }{ 2 } - \frac{ \color{purple}{ 16 } }{ 2 }=\frac{ \color{purple}{ -x-16 } }{ 2 } \end{aligned} $$