No. 2 for March 2002
Yes, this is another one of those grammar columns.
There probably have been 12,568 of them written, and there will likely be another 5,000.
Or is that an additional 5,000?
The correct use is an additional, and if we want to give the reader a little extra help, it’s best not to confuse the two, as we sometimes do.
The AP Stylebook says, “Another is not a synonym for additional; it refers to an element that somehow duplicates a previously stated quantity.” And as John Bremner in “Words on Words” notes, “You can’t have another million unless you’ve had a previous million.”
We use – or misuse – “another” regularly in conversation, so why the angst about its use in writing? While in conversation we often speak with imprecision because so many other clues are available, in the written word, precision aids the reader’s digestion of what we’re trying to communicate.
However, it has 45,000 square feet at 1441 Main St. and another 85,000 square feet in the Palmetto Center at 1426 Main St.
Another is misused here because the amounts, 45,000 and 85,000, are not the same. Rewriting it as an additional 85,000 square feet or 85,000 square feet more signals the unequal comparison to the reader. He or she can more easily digest the information and the concept we seek to convey.
Kmart plans to pay its new chairman and turnaround specialist $4.5 million – plus another $4 million bonus if the retailer emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy next year.
Here, “another” is not only misused, it likely isn’t needed. “Plus” does the work – augmented by “bonus” – signaling to the reader an additional amount is coming. If the writer wanted to emphasize the difference, then using “an additional” might be considered. But I think the sentence works just as well reading: plus a $4 million bonus if the retailer emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy next year.
“Another” is correctly used, however, in this sentence, though the amounts appear to be different:
He had five tops and then got another one.
“One” in this case is not an adjective, but a pronoun, and so it compares like items – tops to tops. Most editors would delete the “one” as redundant because “another” also can serve, standing alone, as a pronoun.
This matter of comparisons causes us trouble in some other areas as well.
Of the nine council members, five say they will vote against the proposal, while the other four support it.
You can’t have “the other four” because you didn’t have four in the first case. Other implies a direct comparison, much like another. In this case it should be while the four others support it. (So a copy-editing hint: if the story is about a governmental body that has an odd number of members, the times when “the other” applies are going to be limited.)
Earnings were $23 million this year compared to
$22 million last year.
The Charleston area expects a 1.6 percent first-quarter increase in hotel rooms rented, compared to a year earlier, according to a local study.
Ah, the compared to-compared with confusion. Maybe we get confused about this because in the classics, compared to often signified differences (remember that Shakespearean sonnet, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)
In modern journalism, however, “compared to” most often is used when there is a direct comparison of likeness, without any further contrast. “Compared with” is used when you want to contrast similarities or differences (think of that old “compare and contrast” assignment your English teacher gave you).
To borrow liberally from Jacques Barzun, the sentence, “He compared his writing to Shakespeare’s,” is far different from “He compared his writing with Shakespeare’s.” The first asserts that his writing is the equal of the Bard of Avon’s. The second admits to some potential differences.
So the first sentence should be: Earnings were $23 million this year, compared with $22 million last year. (With numbers, it’s almost always compared with because numbers inherently contrast things.)
“Compared to” sometimes is described as comparing similarities while “compared with” is incorrectly described as comparing only differences, and that may contribute to the confusion and to the misunderstanding about constructions like the second sentence, compared to a year earlier. The writer is not comparing the similarities of one year to the next, but contrasting the similarities and differences, even though no quantities are stated for the prior year. The correct usage should be compared with a year earlier.
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When Bill Rogers graciously suggested I write this column, I saw it as an opportunity to serve journalists throughout South Carolina. I don’t claim to be a grammarian, just a long-time journalist with a lot of reference books – thus the name Common Sense Journalism. This won’t be a column just on grammar, but on the practical side of journalism, so I hope you’ll share your suggestions or pose questions. We hope we are training your future editors and reporters, and so your suggestions are important.
I invite you to look at the local style guide we have produced for the college at www.jour.sc.edu and click on “resources.” If you have a local style guide, parts of it might be a useful supplement. If not, it might be a good place to start.
Doug Fisher teaches editing and reporting at the University of South Carolina and can be reached at dfisher@sc.edu or 803-777-3315.