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.
For example, we say "a tiger" or "the tiger" to express this kind of animal. don't we?

[redset]

Yeah, tiger is a kind of animal, so we can use the to refer to that specific type. The reason answer B doesn't work is that '9-story building' isn't a specific type of building - it's just a general description (a building with nine floors), so we'd say 'a 9-story building'. If you used the definite article people would wonder which specific building you were talking about.

[jasonlulu_2000]

Sorry, I am not talking about a 9-story building, for both B and D uses "a" to describe 9-story building.

What I am asking is the former blank, whether a whte whale or the white whale.

Thanks again