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I don't know when can I use another and when I should only use other. At first, I thought another should be used only when a singular word comes after it. This is what Theodore Bernstein says in The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage (1965):

ANOTHER The word is often misused for more, others, or additional. A typical newspaper example: "The port directly employed 250,000, with another 150,000 indirectly employed." Another means one more of the same kind. In the sentence quoted it would be correct only if the second figure were the same as the first.

But then I saw in the OALD8 an example with another attached to a plural noun similar to the one Bernstein gives as an example of "misused" another. Is it wrong to use another to say things like "another three things"? Is it better to say "three other things"?

Viettungvuong
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  • Do you remember the example where another comes with a plural word? – J. Siebeneichler Oct 31 '16 at 11:19
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    @J.Siebeneichler I've got another three questions to do – Viettungvuong Oct 31 '16 at 11:39
  • @Viettungvuong "I've got another three questions to do" - this is absolutely incorrect. It should be "I've got other three questions to do". You can't use "three questions" as a 'nonspecific countable noun'. – SovereignSun Oct 31 '16 at 12:05
  • @Viettungvuong Oh, that's an intriguing situation! I don't really know how to explain why another is used here, but my guess is that there is an implied unicity of the questions. I.e., you could analyse it as "I've got another [set of] three questions to do." – J. Siebeneichler Oct 31 '16 at 12:34
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    @siebeneicheler yes, in contrast to "I've got three other questions to do", where you are not emphasizing them as a unit. – Mathily Oct 31 '16 at 13:12
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    @SovereignSun Your 'correction' ("I've got other three questions to do") is absolutely incorrect, while the original formulation is quite standard. – Hellion Nov 01 '16 at 14:24
  • @SvenYargs I don't see this as a duplicate, because the proposed dupe does not answer the larger question of when 'another' can be appropriate, only whether it is appropriate in a specific instance. – Hellion Nov 01 '16 at 14:26
  • @Hellion I can't see why it "I've got other three questions to do" is incorrect. Anyway I'd better say: "I've got three more questions to do." – SovereignSun Nov 01 '16 at 14:28
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    @SovereignSun because your adjectives are out of order; it has to be "three other questions", not "other three questions". (See what is the rule for adjective order.) – Hellion Nov 01 '16 at 14:33
  • @Hellion Oh, right. I've been blinded by other things ))) – SovereignSun Nov 01 '16 at 14:38
  • I added a bit research that (in my opinion) shows that the poster's question is a valid one. I hope that reviewers who come across this question in the Review queue will consider reopening it. – Sven Yargs Nov 02 '16 at 18:08
  • @SvenYargs You shouldn't add research to new users' questions. What's the point, just ask your own question if you're actually interested. And in addition, we have no idea of knowing whether the OP has seen the particular things you've raised. The OP was asking about singular/plural words, whereas by adding that quote from Bernstein you have changed it to being about things of the same kind or different kind. Your edit is illegitimate. – curiousdannii Nov 03 '16 at 03:06
  • I have rolled back the edit so that it is focused on the original singular/plural issue. Please do add some research that focuses on that issue, but do not add research that focuses on different issues. – curiousdannii Nov 03 '16 at 03:08
  • @curiousdannii It's not that I don't understand your point. But what's the point of rolling back SvenYarg's edit? He tried to improve the post in good faith and I don't think it deserves rollback. The post was reopened thanks to the edit and let's move on. If you don't object to it, I will roll it back to SvenYarg's version. Please let me know. I don't want to be involved in edit war. –  Nov 03 '16 at 07:07
  • @Rathony I object strongly for the reason I gave above: he changed what the question was asking about, from being about singular/plural nouns to same/different kinds of nouns. If anyone does rollback my rollback I won't turn it into an edit war either, but I also hope that won't happen. Let the OP come and improve their own question, rather than hijacking it in order to ask a different one. – curiousdannii Nov 03 '16 at 07:09
  • @curiousdannii I am not sure if the original post had a question. If you object strongly, I will leave it at that. But please don't roll it back again after SvenYarg's response. Let's move on. –  Nov 03 '16 at 07:12
  • @Rathony Yes, which is why the question was rightly closed. It was only reopened because it was so thoroughly edited. Unless the OP returns it should be closed again. – curiousdannii Nov 03 '16 at 07:13
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    @curiousdannii I think SvenYarg's version is a duplicate of Can “another” be used with plural nouns provided periods or measurements don’t count?. What do you think? Can you come to the chat room? http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/40642/elu-reviewers –  Nov 03 '16 at 07:22

2 Answers2

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This is a good question—and I disagree with SovereignSun's view that "another three questions" is flatly incorrect.

From a fiercely prescriptivist viewpoint, one might argue that writers and speakers should never use the expression "another three questions" because "three more questions" expresses the underlying idea just as clearly and succinctly—and doesn't do violence to the essential sense of another as meaning "one other."

Idiomatically, however, people use constructions of this type all the time. Indeed, a Google Books search turns up multiple instances of the precise phrase "another three questions" in professionally published texts—including one on English grammar. From Lise-Lotte Hjulmand, A Concise Contrastive Grammar of English for Danish Students, fourth revised and expanded edition (2012):

3.4.8.3. Both, either, neither, another, other

These can all be used both as pronouns and as determiners. Both, either, neither and other relate too two. This is sometimes also the case with another, but this expression can also just mean 'one more, additional, extra'.

...

Another usually refers to or determines countable nouns in the singular (This box is full. I'll go and get another. Mary's broken her leg so we need another actress for the part.), but like every it may determine countable nouns in the plural meaning a sum of money, a distance, a set of something, etc.: We've got another 20 miles to go. I've got another three questions for you.

The phrase "another three questions" also appears in Donna Williams, Autism: An Inside-Out Approach (1996), Chen Huaailin, "Magic in the Tube: The Impact of Hong Kong Television in Guangzhou," in China Review 1999 (1999), Myriam Callus & ‎Jackie Sykes, English Elements (3) (2004), Roberta Ambrosino, "Faculty Development Programs at State Universities Toward the Goal of Academic Accessibility for Students with Learning Disabilities" (2007), Karen Morrison & Shelley Wicks, FCS Mathematical Literacy, Level 3 (2008), Sergei Abramovich, Topics in Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: A Technology-Enhanced Experiential Approach (2010), Ann Callander & Jacquie Buttriss, Thinking Skills for SEN Learners: Practical Strategies for Developing Thinking and Learning, Arieh Ben-Naim, Discover Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Playful Way of Discovering a Law of Nature (2010), Dianna Booher, Speak with Confidence (2011), Randall Shumaker, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Designing and Developing Augmented and Virtual Environments (2013), and James Campbell, Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America (2016).

In some of these instances, the phrase may have the sense "another set of three questions," as Hjulmand's Contrastive Grammar prescribes. But in others, the phrase simply means "three questions in addition to however many questions are or were already asked." In my opinion, this usage is commonplace in idiomatic English, and treating it as fundamentally incorrect entails denying the validity of an everyday speech pattern among fluent English speakers. That "another three questions" appears fairly often in copyedited publications suggests that no widely respected stricture against such usage prevails in the publishing world.

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Sven Yargs
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4

Can “another” be used with plural nouns provided periods or measurements don’t count?

An add-up:

  • Another (another + singular nonspecific countable noun)
  • Other (other + plural or uncountable nonspecific noun)

You can say: 'If I had another five dollars I could afford it.' - Five dollars is single unit of money.

I have to admit that this answer lacked more information previously. With numbers it is acceptable to use another, but there are exceptions. I have done a research in Hornby and Swan books and I have found out an interesting piece of grammar.

Examples:

  • A have another three questions - Here "three questions" is a set of questions, a "singular nonspecific countable noun" so it is right to say so.

  • Another three tanks will come later - Another good example where "three tanks" is one set.

  • I have another four miles to run - Four miles is a distance.

But we can't use another with possessive determiners:

  • My another three books - is incorrect. Instead we should say "My three other books"

  • His another two brothers - is also incorrect. "His two other brothers" is correct.

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