other
part of speech
adjective (other); pronoun (other, others); determiner (other)
meaning for a pupil
1) Other means a different one, not this one. tree →
2) «The other» or «the others» means the rest: «The other children» are the rest of the children. tree →
3) Other means more of the same kind: «other animals like it». tree →
4) «Each other» means one another: they help each other. tree →
5) «The other day» means a few days ago. tree →
6) (casual) «Other half» means your husband, wife or partner: «I'll ask my other half.» tree →
7) (casual) «Or other» shows you can't remember: «some book or other». tree →
8) (formal) «Remaining», «the remainder» and «the residual» are stiff words for the others: «The remaining pupils were…» tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: the rest of a group, the part not yet named; «the other half», «others». In everyday life: «on the other hand», «the other side of the road», «every other day». In science: comparing one group with other groups. In stories: «on the other side of the forest». In casual talk: «the other lot», «them others». In the exam voice: «the remaining», «the remainder of the cohort». Phrases: «each other», «the other way round», «every other», «other than» (except).
examples
- 3 of the cats are black and the other cats are white. tree →
- He gave 5 to Tom and the others to Ann. tree →
- The other half is red. tree →
- How many other books does she have? tree →
- The twins help each other with homework. tree →
- Cross to the other side carefully. tree →
- I saw her the other day at the shop. tree →
- Lions, tigers and other big cats hunt meat. tree →
- We have swimming every other week. tree →
- 7 of us got pizza, the other lot got chips, 12 in all, so how many chips (casual) tree →
- Take the other one, you muppet, that one's mine. (rough) tree →
- Of 30 pupils, 12 travel by bus; determine the number of the remaining pupils. (formal exam) tree →
- The others did not hear her. tree →
note
«The other(s)» often means the rest: rest = total − named part. Trap: «other» can mean «different»: «another 5» means 5 more, so add. «Every other day» means every second day (day 1, 3, 5…). «Another» is one word: an + other. Use «other» before a noun, «others» on its own. «Other than» means except. «The other way round» means the opposite order. Formal «the remaining» and «the remainder» = the others.
In the corpora
- At the other end of working life comes retirement, when people stop paid work for good.
- A pay rise is an increase in pay; some come each year, others have to be asked for.
- A picket line is striking workers standing outside their workplace with signs, peacefully asking others not to go in.
- Some families rent their home from a landlord; others are buying it with a huge loan from a bank called a mortgage.
- Rent is often a family's biggest bill, so when it goes up, other spending has to shrink.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «other» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.