Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner12]

Hello, teachers!!

　　Hobbes, one of the greatest English philosophers, used to sing songs every night in his old age when all were gone and nobody could hear him for his health, which he did believe would make him live two or three years longer.
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(1) What do you mean "all were gone" in the sentence above?
Which is correct?
(a) all were dead.
(b) all were asleep.


(2) I am not sure about "live two or three years longer."

Suppose that Hobbes is 70 right now.

Which is correct?
(a) Hobbes will die at the age of 72 or 73.
(b) Hobbes will die beyond the age of 73, because Hobbes sings songs for living two or three years longer. He may die at the age of 80 or more.

Thank you in advance.

[pugachevV]

When all were gone means, when everybody had left and he was alone.
He believed that singing would add 2 or 3 years to his normal life expectancy. So, if he would have died at 75 without singing, he believed that he would live to be 77 or 78 because of the benefits of singing.

[learner12]

Dear pugachevV:

Thank you so much for your quick responses. I cannot thank you enough.

I have another question.

What do you mean by "nobody could hear him" in the sentence? I think that this means "nobody could hear his singing."

Why did the author put this "nobody could hear him"? I guess that this is not needed; because if everybody had left and he was alone, nobody could hear his song.

Thank you in advance.

[pugachevV]

Yes. It means nobody could hear him singing. It may imply that he was not a very good singer, or that he was too shy to let people hear him singing.
As you say, it's not really necessary.

[learner12]

Dear pugachevV:

Thank you so much for your time.

Take care and have a nice day!!