Spanish language Q&A Forum

I used comenzar for start but it was corrected to empezar. What is the difference in the usage of the two verbs?

Hello, 

I am reading a fairly reputable bilingual version of Sherlock Holmes. On one sentence it says 'Iba vestido discretamente con un traje de mezclilla de lana....'

The translation (and my own reading of the context) suggests that this means 'He was discretely dressed....'

But if that's the case why have they used 'iba'? Is that incorrect? The man was not 'going to do' anything. He just 'was'. My searching online and using Google translate suggests that only estar (or possibly ser) in the past tense are valid here, not ir.

Thanks!

No puedo entender esto parte.

solo mira el aguila cruzando el mundo azul (mirar: to look/see, so translation would be only look the eagle crossing...etc?

solo cantan las sirenas en el ancho de los mares (only sing the mermaids?

Un poco confundida. 

Sometimes the answers require the feminine 'a' but there isn't any context in the question as to the gender of the subject. 

Unless I'm mistaken, which is highly probable  :)

cheers 

Brian

In the question:

They will be very cold when they go to Scotland next December.

It seems to me that this is a quite certain plan, like one of the examples here: ‘ Cuando voy de vacaciones a Tenerife me hospedo en el hotel Olimpia.’

So I thought the answer should be in the indicative:

Tendrán mucho frío cuando irán a Escocia el próximo diciembre.

But the correct answer was in the subjunctive:

Tendrán mucho frío cuando vayan a Escocia el próximo diciembre.

Why is that? Is it a mistake?

Is is possible to explain when to use tener alittle more? I found on the internet that we use tener when talking about an abstract noun or direct object. Is that correct? If so then when do I use mide+measurement etc. ? 

Hi. I remember learning that when we almost do something in the past, then we use the present tense, so that ¡casi me desmayé!  would be ¡casi me desmayo! 

Is this right or wrong or an acceptable alternative in speaking or writing?

Thanks

Stuart