1）连词。其意思和用法=or，“要不然/否则”。

eg. We'll go early, otherwise we may not get a seat.

我们得早一点去，不然就没有座位了。

2）形容词。其意为“另外的, 其他方面的”。

eg. He said he’s innocent, but the evidence was otherwise.

他说他是无辜的，但是证据显示的是另外一回事。

3）副词。其意为

A. “不同地”，如：We were going to play football, but it was so hot that we decided to do otherwise.

我们原打算踢足球，可是天很热，我们就决定干别的了。

B. “（在）其他方面”，如：He is noisy, but otherwise a nice boy.

他爱吵闹，但在其他方面倒是一个好孩子。

C. “（多用在虚拟语气中相当于一个“虚拟条件句：如果没有…”）否则/要不然”，如：

He reminded me of what I should otherwise have forgotten.

他提醒了我, 要不然（如果没有提醒我）我就会把这件事给忘了。

His advice has made the design better than it would otherwise have been.

他的建议使得这个设计要比它本该是(如果未采纳他的建议)的样子要好。

真题范例

#2012—T4

The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist at Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they’d graduated in better times.

哥伦比亚大学的经济学家…的研究表明并非所有在经济萧条时期毕业的人都视自己的人生际遇渺茫：那些具有名牌大学学位的毕业生可以很快达到如果是在经济较好时期毕业才该有的地位。

#基础班T22

It can also free communities and countries, allowing them to leap forward into periods of wealth and social unity that otherwise would not be possible.