He has almost finished. He only needs ________ ten minutes.
I think "other" for the blank. But the answer key says: It will be "another". And I think another should be used before a singular noun.
What is the right answer?
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1"Other" is a tough one. "Another" is right here because of "ten". If I have time later and someone doesn't beat me to it I'll try and figure out why in an answer.– Luke SawczakCommented Jul 8, 2017 at 18:18
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1If you aren't set on using a form of "other", I'd say a more typical formulation is "he only needs ten more minutes".– Chris JohnsonCommented Jul 8, 2017 at 23:15
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1 Answer
In your sentence, another is the correct determiner.
It marks not the plural noun minutes but the noun phrase "ten minutes" which, in the context of the sentence, is treated as a single entity.
He has almost finished. He only needs another ten minutes.
It may be convenient to think of the usage as an ellipsis of period of:
He has almost finished. He only needs another [period of] ten minutes.
An insightful answer to a similar question is provided here by StoneyB at our sister site ELU.
answered Jul 8, 2017 at 19:00
P. E. Dant Reinstate MonicaP. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
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+1. Note that this isn't specific to another; we also say e.g. a good ten minutes. In general, there aren't many cases where we put the adjective before the numeral, but in (almost?) all of those cases, we need a determiner such as a.– ruakhCommented Jul 8, 2017 at 23:24
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@ruakh Good point. I'll expand a little when time permits. Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 23:25