"another" or "an another"?

DD   Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:23 pm GMT
Do you need "an" in "I saw an another cat down the alley"?
Lazar   Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:53 pm GMT
No, you should just say, "I saw another cat down the alley". The word "another" developed as a contraction of "an other", and it's ungrammatical to say "an another".
Travis   Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:01 pm GMT
However, mind you that in many dialects, "another" can be in turn split into "a nother" (which has been found as far back as about 1300), with other words being potentially inserted in between (in particular "whole"). It is clear that such is not mere infixation, as in some dialects (such as my own), one can say things like "a completely whole nother" as well.
Josh Lalonde   Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:26 pm GMT
<<in some dialects (such as my own), one can say things like "a completely whole nother" as well.>>

I've never heard of that before. I kind of like it actually, but in my dialect, "a whole nother" is the only way you can split up 'another', and I suspect it's probably a borrowing.
Guest   Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:02 pm GMT
I think "a whole nother" sounds stupid. We should change it to a "a whole other".
Lazar   Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:00 pm GMT
"A whole nother" is likewise what comes naturally to me, but I have heard some people use "a whole other", and that's what I would use if I were writing formally.
Travis   Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:23 pm GMT
>>"A whole nother" is likewise what comes naturally to me, but I have heard some people use "a whole other", and that's what I would use if I were writing formally.<<

Same here - "a whole nother" is what by far the most natural to me in actual speech and is what I normally use while speaking (while "a whole other" sounds quite akward to me when actually said), but I would practically always formally write "a whole other" nonetheless.
Skippy   Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:24 pm GMT
"A whole nother" is widespread throughout the U.S.