English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I want to see the difference between "another" and "other" in this context. I know that another may mean "additional" or "of a different kind". What about "other" in this case? What does it mean?
1 Give me another two shirts.
2 Give me two other shirts.
Option 1. indicates two more shirts of the same kind (as those you just purchased, for instance). Option 2. means that you want two more, but that are different from the one(s) you already have.
I can think of two ways of interpreting the second sentence, but it is still different from the first in either interpretation.
Depending on context, the following interpretations are possible:
1. Give me another two shirts.
a) Give me two more of the same type of shirt.
→ If you've already given me two shirts, I will now have four shirts.
2. Give me two other shirts.
a) Take these two shirts back and give me two different ones instead.
→ Once I've decided which I like, I will end up with two shirts.b) Give me two more shirts, but make them different from those you've already given me.
→ If you've already given me two shirts, I will now have two shirts of at least one type and another two shirts of at least one other type.
But regardless of the context and how the second sentence is interpreted, another and other mean something different:
another two:
two other:
Note that of the same type is somewhat vague too. It's possible that the type of shirt itself could be random. In which case, there would be no effective difference between 1.a) and 2.b), and it would be theoretically possible for every shirt to be different from the rest. But that would be a practical result rather than one of semantics.
"Another two shirts" has two interpretations:
Neither of these imply that the desired shirts must be of the same kind as any previously mentioned shirts -- nor that they must be of a different kind. For all we know, the speaker might already have 3 shirts but want 5 in total, and doesn't care if they are identical.
If you need to make clear that you want shirts of a different kind, you'd need to use additional words. If you want just one shirt of a different kind to those you'd been offered, you could say "Give me a different shirt". If you want two shirts, both of a different kind to those you'd been offered, you could say "Give me two shirts different from these". (A problem with "Give me two different shirts" is that it can mean "Give me two shirts which are different from each other".)
