The usage of the definite article

Question

Sometimes I'm puzzled by the usage of the definite article.
For example:
1. "The fact should also be registered that the novel has been declining among BOOKS published."
2. "Most readers are surprised to learn that only twelve percent of ALL BOOKS published this year were novels."
Shouldn't it have been used "the" before "books" in the first sentence and "all of the books" in the second? The noun "books" seems to be rather specific(especially in the second sentence). Which books? (The) books PUBLISHED THIS YEAR. I don't know....
By the way... Is the question above correctly formulated?(Shouldn't it have been...?)

Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

"... declining among books published" is correct as it stands. The author of the sentence does not wish to single out a particular set of published books. Presumably the author has not mentioned any particular set of published books earlier in the article which he wishes to refer back to in this sentence. Implicit in the sentence is "among all books (in general) published nowadays".

"... twelve percent of all books published this year" is also correct as it stands. Your alternate version, however, is equally acceptable since it means the same thing. "... twelve percent of all of the books published this year" is also correct. The author may have chosen his version for stylistic reasons, i.e., because of the repetition of "of" in the alternate version ("of all of"), or because the sentence is already too wordy for his taste. We don't know. But it is typical to avoid wordiness in expository writing, so that's my best guess.

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"Shouldn't it have been used "the" ..." is not quite correct. Here's what you need:

"Shouldn't "the" have been used before "books" ..."

OR better: "Shouldn't it have been "the books" in the first ..."

The usage of the definite article

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