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Thread: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

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    wotcha's Avatar
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    Default Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    "Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world."





    Ther above is from Kids' English book and I don't understand why it doesn't say

    "Blue Whales are the biggest animals in the world."



    ???

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    emsr2d2 is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by wotcha View Post
    "Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world."





    Ther above is from Kids' English book and I don't understand why it doesn't say

    "Blue Whales are the biggest animals in the world."



    ???
    What do you think is the difference between "big" and "large"?

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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by emsr2d2 View Post
    What do you think is the difference between "big" and "large"?
    I don't see any differences in this case. ㅠㅜ

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    5jj's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by wotcha View Post
    I don't see any differences in this case. ㅠㅜ
    Neither do I, so why doyou ask why they use one rather than the other? They need to use one.
    bhaisahab likes this.
    Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.


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    Tdol is online now Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by wotcha View Post
    "Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world."

    Ther above is from Kids' English book and I don't understand why it doesn't say

    "Blue Whales are the biggest animals in the world."

    It could.

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    SoothingDave is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    It could, but it probably wouldn't. "Largest" sounds better in these type of cases.

    I was reviewing someone's technical paper the other day and he had written about "big data sets." I corrected it to "large" because that is the word that is normally used. It just sounds better. "Big" seems more childish, at least to me.

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    5jj's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Whales are the largest animals in the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by SoothingDave View Post
    "Big" seems more childish, at least to me.
    I agree with you - in some contexts. However, the sentence we are discussing came from a book for children, so 'biggest' is fine, in my opinion.
    Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.


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