Spanish language Q&A Forum

A esto libro le faltan dos paginas. I found this sentence and him confused why we use a with it

As an extremely well-educated native North American speaker trying to learn Latin American Spanish, I find the semantics in this lesson frustrating. This is punctuated by all the comments seen here. There is insufficient context provided. For example (ignoring the hint since hints aren't given in real life), one of the quiz questions asks to translate: "They are having ice cream." I would immediately think "Están tomando helado." - or perhaps "desfrutando" given some of the loose lesson translations. However, to think: "Van a tomar helado." I need further context. For example: "They are having ice cream this afternoon." - "Van a tomar helado esta tarde." Otherwise in English you are much less ambivalent saying: "They are going to have ice cream." I understand both sides of the arguments and I fall more on the side of "They are going to have," but a better solution is to provide a more complete explanation and context in the lesson, after all, it is more common to say "They are going to have." Concede that we use the exact same literal expression in both Spanish and English but then take it further in the lesson to explain the nuanced differences in English thought compared to Spanish thought. 

For the sentence "mientras vosotros ________ el postre, yo hice el café", why is "estuvisteis comiendo" incorrect?  The lesson seems to suggest that it should be correct.

For example, the lesson says this:  When the ongoing past action is inside a completed timeframe in the past. See how all examples above contain a time phrase: "toda la noche", "de 6 a 7 de la tarde", "el sábado pasado".  In the quiz question, the completed timeframe is "while you were having dessert".  Isn't that a similar time frame to "toda la noche"?

Also, the lesson says this:  We don't know when the "eating" started, but the end is expressed with "hasta que acabamos con  toda la comida". This may sound as if that is an interrupting action and may lead you to wrongly think you need to use El Imperfecto Progresivo [estaba+present participle].  Likewise, in the quiz question, we know that "having dessert" has a beginning and an end, although we don't know exactly when.

Gracias!

Es lo mismo igual que/ tan como, se asemejan y se pueden utilizar.

Tan rojas como las cerezas/ rojas igualnque las cerezas, es el mismo significado, e. El mismo tiempo. 

The test question and answer does not seem to make sense for this lesson about the al contraction. The question was: Tenemos que ir ________ estación de Atocha en Madrid. We need to go to Atocha station in Madrid.

First, "We need" is necisitamos. Tenemos que is "We have to"

Second, this is a question about the al and del contractions, but the answer to this question is "a la"  so I do not understand the test question.

In the example: 

Nuestra ayuda está dirigida a jóvenes sin empleo. Estas son personas que han acabado sus estudios y no han encontrado trabajo.

why is it "Estas" and not "Estos"? Doesn't this pronoun need to agree with "jóvenes" rather than "personas"?

I thought Ojalá had the accent on the last A.

The answer for "the test results" is singular.   But shouldn't it also be plural?  There could be many results for one test.