Read the passage. a 40-ton creature, spinning around and around in the water, was coming right at my boat. we could hear its fins slapping the water with each revolution. the brute exhaled, and salty water sprayed us before it dove again. the sight of its tail flashing past and barely missing the boat sent shivers down my spine. when it came to the surface again, we could have counted the barnacles on its enormous head. what type of animal is the writer describing? a. sealb. sharkc. whaled. penguin

The correct answer is C. Whale

Explanation:

In writing, a description refers to the use of details to provide an account of the characteristics, features, parts, etc of an object, animal, situation or person. Because of this the object or subject being described can be determined by analyzing the details presented.In the case of the excerpt presented the author of it include details such as "A 40-ton creature, spinning around and around in the water" that suggest the animal described is big and marine, besides this the author adds "We could hear its fins slapping " which suggests the animal has big fins and adds "The brute exhaled" which is key to understand besides the features previously described this animal has a blowhole, which can only be found in cetaceans such as whales, which is also exclusively linked to "we could have counted the barnacles" and " its tail flashing" as whales are the only animals that besides being big, marine and having a blowhole, have barnacles and whose tail can be seen from boats when they go to the surface. Therefore, the animal the writer is describing is a whale.

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.

because she needs money