Most of the examples sound fine, but these examples sound strange to me, and would make me believe the speaker is not native:
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06. One night in the middle of the night, I'm hearing dripping
This example sounds strange to me because progressives are rarely one-time events. If this is an unusual event, you might say "I heard dripping." However, if the speaker is about to switch into a direct, informal narrative in the historical present, it could sound perfectly natural, if informal, like this "One night, in the middle of the night, I'm hearing this dripping, so I get out of and look at the bathroom sink, and guess what I find there..." But in standard usage, I think "I heard" is preferable, because "One night" expects a past tense sentence.
- 09. Tim, are you wanting any fruit?
"Do you want" or "Would you like" would sound much more natural to me.
- I am out of the office until 09/15/2014.
My question is, will he be available on the morning of the 15th?
Well, pragmatically, if that date lands on a Monday, then I'd think he would be in his office that day.
Let's see how the word "until" kinda works. For example, consider:
- 1) "[The man kept on kicking the bear] until the bear growled."
That means that when the bear growled, the man immediately stopped doing whatever action he was doing (such as kicking the bear). That is, if I were that man, I'd stop kicking the bear--but then, I wouldn't be kicking a bear to begin with.
So let's now tweak that so it's somewhat more similar to your example:
- 2) "[The man kept on kicking the bear] until 09/15/2014."
That means that when it became 09/15/2014, the man stopped kicking the bear. (Poor bear.)
So, now, with your original version:
- "I am out of the office until 09/15/2014."
That means that when it becomes 09/15/2014, the man will stop being out of his office -- which implies that he will be in his office (right then and there on that given date). And if he is normally at work in the mornings, then he probably oughta be there that morning--but who knows, maybe he'll be busy catching up with his emails and whatnots.
OH! LOOK! 09/15/2014 is a Monday!
Phew! It looks like my rationale is rational. Surprise, surprise. Sometimes it works out that way. (And sometimes it don't.)
Best Answer
If it were through or after, it would mean the last date of of the "permissive period" would be on July 31.
However, until usually indicates any time before a specific time or action.
Here the specific time will be when you put down your homework and climb into bed.
In the given example, just saying until July is not specific enough to know which date is meant.
So the answer "a" is the best choice of the two given. To understand better, you would have to ask the phone company the exact date of the change.