840 - Another, The Other, Other

The other day, I was thinking about what kind of lesson I can teach here and at first I had an idea, and then I had another idea and then another one. The first one actually brought me to the other one. 

Today, we’re going to talk about three little words that can cause big confusion:
another, other, and the other. They might seem similar, but they’re used in different ways—and understanding how to use them correctly can really help you sound more natural in English. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The other day, I was thinking about what kind of
lesson I can teach here, And at first I had
an idea, and then I had another idea, and then
another one. The first one actually brought me to the
other one. Let me explain.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight forty Another,
the Other and Other. Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining

(00:56):
me for another episode of the Happy English Podcast. I'm
your English teacher, Michael, and I'm so glad you're listening. Today.
We're going to talk about three little words that can
cause big confusion. Another, other and the other. They might
seem similar, but they're used in different ways, and understanding

(01:22):
how to use them correctly can really help you sound
more natural in English. So let's get into it. Let's
start with another. You can use another before a singular
countable noun. Another is basically a combination of an and other,

(01:48):
and an means one, right, like an apple means one apple,
so another means one other. You can say things like
another donut, another dog, or another person. By the way,

(02:09):
another actually has two meanings. First of all, another means
one more like that donut was amazing. I think I'll
have another one. Another one is one more donut. And
I just had a cup of coffee, but I could

(02:31):
use another cup. In the office, someone might say, you know,
this meeting was helpful, Let's have another one next week.
We also use another when we're talking about a different
thing or person, like Hey, this train is packed, let's

(02:54):
wait for another train. Or at the store, you can
say these shoes don't fit, I'd like to try another size,
or hey, Jack, I'm sorry that girl dumped you, but
cheer up. You'll find another girl soon. Now let's move

(03:17):
on to other. Other is also used when you're talking
about something different, but it works a little differently in
a sentence. First, you can use other before a plural noun,
like I like jazz, but I also listen to other

(03:38):
kinds of music. Do you think I look like mister bean?
Other people have said that too, you know show Hey
o Tani is a great baseball player, but there are
other good players as well. By the way, other can

(03:58):
also be used with singular nouns. But when we do that,
we need to add a determiner, like some or the
Like my favorite pizza place was closed, so I went
to the other one in town. Oh, and they just
announced that the trains are out of service because of

(04:22):
the storm, so we'll have to find some other way
to get to the airport. At the workplace, we interviewed
two people. The first one had a lot of qualifications,
but the other one has more experience. And speaking of
that last example, let's look more closely at the other.

(04:48):
We use the other when there are just two things
or two people and we're talking about the one that's
not this one. Like this, I you have two brothers.
One lives in New York and the other one lives
in Chicago. This bag is yours, but the other bag

(05:11):
is mine. You can also use the other with plural nouns.
Like some students past the test, the other students will
have to take it again. I've already read half of
the books I bought. I'll read the other books next week. Okay,

(05:34):
before we wrap this up, let me give you a
little dialogue to bring it all together.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Hey, Jack, did you go to that new jazz club?

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah? It was okay, but I found another club that's
even better.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Really better than all the other ones you've taken me too.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yep, come with me Friday. We'll go to the other
one across town. You'll love it. Nice job, Jack, smooth move.
All right. That's it for today's podcast English lesson. If
you found this episode helpful, please share it with a
friend or listen to another one, and keep in mind

(06:14):
the best way to remember English like this and any
other word or phrase in English, is to take that
word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true
for you or true in your world, and then memorize
your sentences. Hey, do you want to get more practice
using your English, then you should join my podcast Learner's

(06:36):
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(07:00):
each episode has exercises where you can practice this English
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just visit my Happy English dot com and choose podcast
lesson eight forty. Remember, learning another language is not easy.
But it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you

(07:23):
on your journey.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
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