> "very biggest"? Doesn't "biggest" already cover very? "very biggest" is a common phrase. Maybe it's more British. > "near"? Wouldn't "nearly" be more gramma

> "very biggest"? Doesn't "biggest" already cover very? "very biggest" is a common phrase. Maybe it's more British. > "near"? Wouldn't "nearly" be more grammatically correct. I don't know but that's also pretty common. > "but that was before commercial whaling"? Wouldn't a more professional way of writing this be "until the advent of commercial whaling" I think it's fine. > This all sounds like a speech of a tour guide being made towards children not a scientific article in the BBC. The BBC is a government media / propaganda organization, "scientific BBC article" doesn't have much gravitas.