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Magic-dragon Posted 4 years ago
Grammar

In a book or in the book

A: I found an interesting topic in a book of a library.

B: I found an interesting topic in the book of a library.

Which of A and B is more natural as a description of the situation below?

<Situation> There were a lot of books in a library. In one of the books, I found an interesting topic.

  

Top answer

"Of a library" is not natural there, so we have to correct that first. " A problem remains, though. "In the library" is likely to be taken to mean that you were in the library.

  • "Of a library" is not natural there, so we have to correct that first.
  • " A problem remains, though.
  • "In the library" is likely to be taken to mean that you were in the library.
  • "
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2 Answers
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"Of a library" is not natural there, so we have to correct that first. I would say "in the library", "the" meaning any library, like "the zoo" in the alternate lyrics to the popular song, "Happy birthday to you, you belong in the zoo …." A problem remains, though. "In the library" is likely to be taken to mean that you were in the library. To put the emphasis on the book, we have to recast: "I

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It can't be 'the book'. That implies that the library had only one book, which contradicts the definition of 'library'. So you need

I found an interesting topic in a library book.


Or, you are making a contrast between that book (in the library) and another book (e.g., a book you found in a bookstore), and you have mentioned these two books previously in the conversati

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