What is the difference between Another and Other

Two words that people often aren’t sure when to use are another and other.  We must pay attention to how many things we’re referring to and if they’re countable or uncountable.  There is a simple trick for this too.  ANOTHER means one anyway because it has the article “an” in front of the root word “other.”  So “another” or “another one” always refers to having the same thing again or one different thing from however many options there are.  Other means that there is a choice between two things and so “other” is the second option.  It can also mean unspecific or uncountable.  We need to use the article “the” in front of it but we can NEVER use “the” in front of “another” because it already contains the word “an.”

Examples of Another and Other in use.

    “Can I please get another piece of cake?” - this means that there are more than one pieces of cake left and so the speaker is asking for one of them

    “Can I have the other piece of cake?” - this means that there is only one piece of cake left and the speaker is asking for it

    “Which language would you like to learn?  German? Spanish? Or another one?” - this means that the speaker is asking the other person if they would like to learn any different languages besides German or Spanish

    “Which language would you like to learn?  German?  Spanish?  Or the other one we offer, French? - the speaker is offering the other person a choice of three languages to learn because those are the only ones they offer.

    “My foreign girlfriend is looking for another job because she would like to move closer to me.” - the speaker says that their foreign girlfriend would like to get some kind of job closer to them

    “My foreign girlfriend wanted the other company to hire her so she could move closer to me.” - the speaker says that their foreign girlfriend wanted the second option but got the first one

    “Other companies offer you less time for lunch.” - the speaker is saying that an uncountable amount of different companies offer you less time for lunch

    “I asked her for other information about the new merger.” - the speaker is speaking about information, which is uncountable