It

TakaWhat does 'it' in bold refer to? 'Knowledge' or 'encyclopedia'?

It's a bit of a puzzle, isn't it. Is it worth it to guess about a poorly constructed sentence? I'd say 'encyclopedia', but who knows! In my opinion it's a waste of time to speculate because the question has no answer.

TakaIn an environment which values knowledge for its own sake he will not put down the encyclopedia with a sigh of relief when the son has grown up, but will want more of it.

What does 'it' in bold refer to? 'Knowledge' or 'encyclopedia'?

I am not sure if I can comprehend the meaning of this sentence. It makes little sense to me.

If he needs more encyclopedias, then shouldn't it be 'more of them' instead?

For your information, here is the entire text.

Most boys have a natural inclination to admire their fathers, and a cultural gap between father and son is painful for both. The middle-class father who at nights studies the encyclopedia in order to be able to answer his son's

TakaIf he needs more encyclopedias, then shouldn't it be 'more of them' instead?

Yes, IF he needs more encyclopedias, but nothing in the text says he wants more encyclopedias.

CJ

Then why did you think 'it' could refer to 'encyclopedia'?

Jim, tell me. Do you think it's possible to replace 'of' with 'from' as this?

...but will want more from it. (i.e wants to learn more from the encyclopedia)

Is that how you saw the part in question?

Yes, that's sometimes done, e.g. "You're asking more of me than I can give!", and certainly seems to be the intended meaning in this case.

You mean 'You're asking more of me than I can give!' is the same as 'You're asking more from me than I can give!' and the part in question 'more of it' is the same as 'more from it' as I said, and you think 'it' refers to 'encyclopedia', if anything?

TakaIn an environment which values knowledge for its own sake he will not put down the encyclopedia with a sigh of relief when the son has grown up, but will want more of it.

After reading this passage several times and this is how I would analyze it. Yes, now I can see the "it" refers to " encyclopedia " because if we dissect this sentenceas follows:

In the natural environment, people who care about grammar ( and I speak from my perspective) will try to maintain everything they say within the confine of grammar. Even so, sometime everything we say is not necessarily explainable by grammar rules. For instance, your example about "of me" and "from me" is just that. They are both grammatical and correctly used. But the subtle difference is in the