Tonight’s song is almost all questions, and they are all about measuring: how deep, how high, how far, how much.
Learn from Songs · Unit 3: Questions · A2–B1
How Deep Is the Ocean?
A classic love song built from measuring questions: How + adjective questions (How deep…? How high…? How far…? How much…?), the answers (It’s 200 metres high.), and the language of size and distance, with Marcos, Philo, and the great lighthouse of Pharos.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Like a maths lesson?
SOPHIA
Like a love letter. The singer means: you can’t measure how much I love you.
DEMETRIA
That’s much better than maths.
Before you listen: the song
New York, 1932, and Detroit, 1961
Irving Berlin was one of the greatest American songwriters. He was born in Russia, arrived in New York as a poor child, and wrote more than a thousand songs, including “White Christmas”. He wrote “How Deep Is the Ocean?” in 1932.
The song is a list of questions with no answers: how much the singer loves, how far he would travel, how deep the ocean is, how high the sky. The meaning is simple: his love is as big as the ocean and the sky, and just as impossible to measure.
Hundreds of singers have recorded it. In 1961, a young Marvin Gaye, later famous for soul music, put it on his very first album. He wanted to be a jazz singer, like his heroes Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.
How do you measure love?
Listen: the questions
PHILO
Listen once. Every question starts with How. Write down the words that come after it.
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A. Notice that the singer never answers his own questions.
🌊 Listen to the song: “How Deep Is the Ocean?” (Irving Berlin, 1932), sung by Marvin Gaye (1961).Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “How Deep Is the Ocean?”, Marvin Gaye.Read the lyrics →
How + adjective
MARCOS
How deep? How high? How far? How long?
SOPHIA
How + adjective asks about size and amount: how deep / high / tall / long / wide / far / old / heavy / big. And for quantities: how much (uncountable) and how many (countable).
Answering
DEMETRIA
How high is the lighthouse? It’s 100 metres high. How old is it? It’s 250 years old.
SOPHIA
The answer usually follows the pattern: It’s + number + unit + adjective. The river is 5 metres deep. The road is 10 kilometres long. For people: I’m 1.60 metres tall. I’m 14 years old (not I have 14 years!).
Sophia’s comparison: measuring the world
SOPHIA
Here in Alexandria, Eratosthenes measured the whole Earth with a stick, a shadow and a question: how far is it from Syene to Alexandria?
PHILO
And Isaiah asks: who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span?
MARCOS
So the song is asking the same question as Isaiah: can you measure something that big?
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| How high / deep / far / long / old…? | asking about measurements | How deep is the ocean? |
| How much / how many? | asking about quantity | How much do I love you? |
| It’s + number + unit + adjective | answering | It’s 200 metres high. |
| I’m 14 (years old) | age in English: be, not have | I’m 14, not I have 14 years. |
| deep, high, wide, far, tall, heavy | adjectives of size | The wall is 3 metres wide. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. What kind of questions does the song ask?
2. Does the singer answer his questions?
3. What does the singer really mean?
4. How does the song sound?
5. Who wrote it?
6. What kind of singer did Marvin Gaye want to be in 1961?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. How is the ocean? (from the top to the bottom)
8. How is the sky? (up)
9. How is it to Rome? (distance)
10. The tower is 50 metres .
11. How water is in the bottle?
12. I fourteen years old.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “I have fifteen years.”
14. “How far is it to the station?”
15. “How many sugar do you want?”
16. “The river is ten metres deep.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Measure your world. In pairs, ask and answer: How tall are you? How far is your school? How long is your street? How old is your town?
Discuss. 1. Can love be measured? 2. What is the most impressive measurement you know (the highest mountain, the deepest sea)? 3. Why do people love records?
Write (60–80 words). How much do I…? Write a short song or poem of “How…?” questions about something or someone you love.
Now play the gamebook: Marcos measures the lighthouse of Pharos.Play the gamebook →