Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

The biggest whale is ___ blue whale, which grows to be about 29 meters long�the height of ___ 9-story building.
A. the; the B. a; a C. a; the D. the; a

I think both B and D is correct, since "the" and " a" can be both used to refer to a general statement.

BUT the answer given is D, where am I wrong?

2. When I talked with my grandma on the phone, she sounded weak, but by the time we ___ up, her voice had been full of life.
A. were hanging
B. had hung
C. hung
D. would hang

The answer given is C. But I think A is right.

Can I use present continous sense to express the coming event as we do in "we are leaving"?

I mean if we hung up the telephone, how can I know my grandma's voice had been full of life on the other end of the line. BUT if we were hanging up(which means the conversation has not finished), I can sense my grandma's voice has changed.

Am I right? If not, correct me please.

Thanks

[peterteacher]

The use of the superlative 'the biggest whale' means you definitely need 'the'.

When something is the '...est' it is the only one of many competing for the title.

There is only one tallest building in a city. There is only one fastest car in a race.

Image the sentence like this, and it might help:

"The biggest (species of) whale is the blue whale......."



With granny on the phone, the sequence of events runs like this:

1) Call grandma
2) Grandma sounds weak
3) Continue talking to grandma
4) Grandma's voice becomes full of life
5) Hang up the phone

We know past event #4 happens before past event #5 because of the past perfect 'had been full of life'.

As you know, you can use present continuous for future events, but it is not appropriate for this example. In fact, all continuous tenses give the sense of an ongoing, often repeated action so if you said 'hangING' up the phone it would either mean
a) You took a long time to hang up the phone and suddenly, while you were doing this, Granny's voice became full of life
OR
b) You hung up the phone many times!
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