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A book (writing, written) in haste may well have a lot of mistake.

What is the answer? (I don't know which one is correct now.) Most of us (non-native speaker) say 'written' is correct(the book (which is) written in haste ~) but someone says the answer is 'writing'. (Actually he presented this question.)

Is 'writing' the answer? or is he only misthinked the answer?

Jasper
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Dasik
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    Note that 'book writing' is possible but then it'd serve as a noun - 'a book writing is not an easy task!" – Maulik V Nov 09 '15 at 07:23
  • @MaulikV - Although then I would phrase it as "The writing of a book is not an easy task", or maybe use "book" as a noun adjunct with a zero article, as"Book writing is not an easy task". – stangdon Nov 09 '15 at 17:18

2 Answers2

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Nope, written is the only correct answer.

If the answer was writing, it would mean that the book was doing the action of the writing and a book cannot write because it has no hands.

Note: Mistake should be plural in this. So,

A book written in haste may well have a lot of mistakes.

Beta Decay
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A book written in haste may well have a lot of mistakes. The use of written in the sentence is correct grammatically. I think you can also say "A book writing in haste may well cause .......". However, the following are also possible:

  1. Writing a book in haste may well cause a lot of mistakes.

  2. To write a book in haste may well cause a lot of mistakes.

Khan
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