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MustAsk Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

To be or have height

Hi

I am a bit confused:

What size is that building?

but not,

What height is that building?

The building IS the same height as that hill.

This is pretty confusing, why can't 'height' be used in a question together with 'is' the way the word 'size' can be? Could I be wrong?

Thanks!
  

Top answer

MustAsk What size is that building? What height is that building? Both are possible.

— CalifJim

  • MustAsk What size is that building?
  • What height is that building?
  • Both are possible.
  • Probably the most common way of handling these idiomatically, however, is with "How" plus an adjective.
  • How tall is that building?
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5 Answers
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MustAskWhat size is that building? ... What height is that building?
Both are possible. Probably the most common way of handling these idiomatically, however, is with "How" plus an adjective.

How tall is that building?
How big is that building?
How tall are you?
How long is that street?
How hot is it today?
How large is that lake?
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Right. But I wonder if both are possible then using 'weight' in the same way should also be possible?

What weight is this object?
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MustAskusing 'weight' in the same way should also be possible
It is possible. It's just that this grammatical pattern is not the preferred one.

What weight is this object?
__________

For all of those, you also have What is the [height / weight / length / size / price / temperature] of ...?

So there are three
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Great!

Would "what weight does it have?" be a fourth one?
CalifJimSo there are three ways to ask. How tall? What is the height? What height is? And so on.
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MustAskWould "what weight does it have?" be a fourth one?
Yes, but now we're getting into less used ways of saying it.

CJ
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