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Anna Parkhanovich
Another/ the other Dear native speakers, I'm confused because my book says there should be "the other", but on the Internet there are lots of examples with "another", which is supported by my own experience as I've heard "one after another" several times. I'd be grateful to get some explanation! Thank you! I read the novels by O.Henry one after ... Then I read the novels of William Burroughs one after ...

Corrections · 5

1

Both "one after the other" and "one after another" are used, with no real difference in meaning.  Having said that, I will make a the following observations:

 

First, if there are only two objects, I would be inclined to say, "one after the other."   Example:  "I had two books, and I read one after the other."   "one after another" creates a feeling that there are three or more objects.  "I had twelve books, and I read them one after another."  The more objects there are, the more I would be inclined to say "one after another."

 

Second, "one after another" can create the impression that the events are happening very quickly.  That is, there is very little time between one event and the next event.  "He ate five bowls of ice cream, one after another."  This makes me think that as soon as he finished one bowl of ice cream, he started the next.  Compare:  "He ate five bowls of ice cream, one after the other."  It means the same thing, but somehow I don't imagine him starting a new bowl of ice cream quite as fast.

 

 

 

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Can you give an example of the sentence used in the book? It would be easier to tell you if there was a difference in meaning if presented with examples.
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I've checked. There is no example on this very case. I understand the rule perfectly, it's just this very case that confuses me because I saw it used in different ways. Could you just tell me, how you would say?
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http://www.englishcurrent.com/esl-materials-2/other-another-difference/ Check out this website. It has a good explanation and examples that you can see.

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