“Another” can be the perfect word or superfluous
May 24th, 2008 at 02:51pm Barry Wood
“Another” is fairly straightforward in the sense of “one more” — “let’s have another cup of coffee” — and in referring to differences or similarities — “we’ll settle this another time,” “he may prove to be another Hitler.”
The trouble comes with quantities greater than one. In a typical tallying, for example, the two numbers must be exactly the same to use “”another”: “Theater owners said 1,000 attended opening night and another 1,000 showed up for the next show.”
That’s correct — both are 1,000. Change either number (or both) so they no longer match, and “another” is incorrect.
I think “another” has become a comfort word, maybe for people uneasy with numbers. Notice that in the example above, “another 1,000″ underscores the notion that the second-night crowd matched the first night’s. Using any other numbers — “1,000 attended opening night and another 800 showed” and so on — “another” is not only incorrect, it has no real function. Go ahead, delete it. Any change in meaning?
Save “another” for that voodoo that it can do so well.
Entry Filed under: strict usage
2 Comments Add your own
1. Leonardo duh Vinci | May 28th, 2008 at 6:12 am
An other and another and other words call for a dictionary and a linguist. It is difficult to keep uo with new words. Is there an “up-to-date” dictionary on the market?
2. Barry Wood | May 28th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
A few words about dictionaries:
English is in a period of rapid growth. Traditional dictionaries (actual books) can’t keep up, but new editions are appearing more quickly.
I’m partial to Webster’s New World College Dictionary because it’s the one I’ve used since the start of my career in journalism.
The first version, Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, appeared in 1951. A condensed college version appeared two years later.
The second edition was published in 1970, and the third in 1988.
The current one, the fourth, was rolled out in July 1999.
I figure a fifth edition is due soon, and I’ll be buying it.
There also are specialty dictionaries — for slang, for example.
They’re all good — especially in the hands of people who actually use them.
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