Other vs. another

Do you confuse 'other' and 'another'? Not sure when to use which?

Here is a short review of the grammar behind those words.

Apart from these rules, I also tell my students: you hear 'ANother', that's quite like the indefinite article 'an', so you have to use it with singular nouns ONLY.

 I hope that after reading this article you will be again a bit better at English ;)

Another and other are similar words that are often confused. Let’s have a look at how these words are used.

We use another when we talk about “one more of the same thing” that was already mentioned.

• I had a cup of coffee, but I want to have another cup (one more cup).
• I have two computers. One is in my office and another one is in my house (one more computer).
• Jim is rich. He has a house in Manhattan, and another one in LA.

We also use another when we talk about “a thing that is different” from the thing that was already mentioned.

• I had a cup of coffee, so I would like another drink (a different drink)
• The pizza shop was closed on Sunday, so I went to another one (a different pizza shop).
• Jack has a sales job during the week, but he has another job as a waiter on the weekend.

We can also use other when we talk about “a thing that is different” from the thing that was already mentioned. However, we use other with a determiner such as some or the.

• I had a cup of coffee, so I would like some other drink (some different drink)
• The pizza shop was closed on Sunday, so I went to the other one in town (the different pizza shop).
• Jack has a sales job during the week, but he has some other job on the weekend.

Note that we do not use other without a determiner such as some or the with singular nouns:

• I had a cup of coffee, so I would like other drink
• The pizza shop was closed on Sunday, so I went to other one in town

But…we can use other without a determiner with plural nouns:

• I drink coffee during the day, but I drink other drinks during the night.
• If my favorite pizza shop is closed, there are other pizza shops I can have lunch in.

What sort of device are you reading this blog on? Do you have another device? What kind of device is the other one?



This article is taken from here and edited.