Another - Other - Others

Another - Other - Others

My pupils often ask me about these three words. It seems to be a tricky topic. Let's see if we can understand it! Take it easy, read carefully and do the exercise at the end. 

ANOTHER is a determiner or a pronoun.



Determiner:

It goes with countable SINGULAR nouns.

It means 'one more'.

Examples:
Can I have another cup of coffee?
I want another glass of water.
Would you like another piece of cake?

It also can mean 'alternative' or 'different'.

I would prefer another colour. (I would prefer a different colour)

Pronoun:
It takes the place of a SINGULAR noun, but with the same meaning: 'one more' or 'different'.

Examples:
Can I have another? (Can I have one more?)
I want another. (I want one more.)
Would you like another? (Would you like one more?)
I would prefer another.

OTHER is a determiner or a pronoun.
It can go with SINGULAR and PLURAL nouns.

It means 'alternative', 'different'.

Examples:
I don't want this one. I want the other one.
He can do other things.
Are there any other alternatives?
No other man can do what he does.

Pronoun:
It takes the place of a SINGULAR noun, but with the same meaning: ‘alternative’ or ‘different’. Usually with ‘the’.

Examples:
I don’t want this one. I want the other.
No other can do what he does.

OTHERS is a pronoun.

It takes the place of a PLURAL noun, but with the same meaning: ‘alternative’ or ‘different’.

Examples:
He can do others. (He can do other things)
Are there any others? (Are there any other alternatives?)

Exercise: fill in the blanks with another, other or others.

1. I want _______________ cup of coffee.

2. Would you like ________________ piece of cake?

3. I think we should make __________________ plans just in case.

4. We need some chairs. I’ll take these ones and you can take the ___________.

5. Do you have ______________ types available?
6. A: Have ____________________ sausage.
    B: No, thanks. I’ve had enough.

7. You take one bag and I’ll take the ________________ one.

8. I really hope there are ___________________ alternatives.

9. This bike might be slow but ______________ are much faster.

10. We really need to buy ________________ car, so that we can have two cars at home.

11. I’m going to sell this car and get ______________ one.

12. She had an umbrella in one hand and her purse in the _________________.

13. This is just __________________ day in my life.

14. How many _________________ people are coming?

15. Would you like this one or the _______________ one?

16. I’d like __________________ vacation right now. It’s not enough!

17. They’re not for you., they’re for ___________________.

18. This is my sister Mary. I have _______________ three sisters too.

19. I don’t want these shoes, I want the _________________ because they go with my dress.

20. Are there any __________________ questions?

KEY: another/ another/ other/ others/ other/ another/ other/ other/ others/ another/ other/ other/ another/ other/ other/ another/ others (or 'another' or 'the other')/ other/ others/ other