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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

hearing or listening to?

I have encountered the following choices in a text.
Everyone in the room looked shocked--they couldn't believe what
they ______?
A. were listening to B. were hearing (the answer is B)
I was wondering why i can't i choose A? which makes sense. why not use had heard if one wants to show the result. thanks
  

Top answer

If you say "I can't believe what I am listening to", it's similar to saying, "I can't believe what I am watching". In the first case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your ears. In the second case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your eyes.

— CalifJim

  • If you say "I can't believe what I am listening to", it's similar to saying, "I can't believe what I am watching".
  • In the first case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your ears.
  • In the second case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your eyes.
  • This is not what the original sentence means.
  • __________________________________________ If you say "I can't believe what I am hearing", it's similar to saying, "I can't believe what I am seeing".
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1 Answers
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If you say "I can't believe what I am listening to", it's similar to saying, "I can't believe what I am watching".
In the first case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your ears.
In the second case, you are somewhat annoyed with yourself to find that you are paying attention to a particular thing through your eyes.
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