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
