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Is this sentence grammatically correct?

Dystopian books are one of the best-selling books in the nation.

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The Bible is the best-selling book of the nation. And that is technically a collection of books. – Urbycoz Oct 8 '12 at 11:06

closed as general reference by FumbleFingers, Andrew Leach, MετάEd, tchrist, Kris Oct 11 '12 at 5:44

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2 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

No. As you suspect, a group of books cannot be "one of the ... books." What's meant is probably something like:

Dystopian books are among the best selling books in the nation.

Or

Dystopian books are the best selling books in the nation.

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4  
True. But: "Dystopian books is one of the best-selling categories of book ..." – StoneyB Oct 7 '12 at 18:18
5  
You don't want to use "is" with a plural like "Dystopian books", either. "Dystopian fiction is one of the best-selling categories of book" works, I think. – Mark Bessey Oct 7 '12 at 20:42
1  
I agree with @MarkBessey. "Is" can only be acceptable after a plural if the plural is in quotes (e.g. "Dystopian Books" is the title of Terry Pratchett's new best-seller) – itsbruce Oct 7 '12 at 23:01
Rats, there goes 30 points from my SAT writing score. :'( – spinach Oct 8 '12 at 3:26
@Spinach - I'm sorry to hear it. Your question brought me 125 - I wish I could share. – JAM Oct 8 '12 at 3:28
up vote 3 down vote

You would be better to avoid the word 'books', as they are physical objects which is not really what you are talking about. Dystopian refers to the story inside the book. Think of "I have bought a book" (physical object) ~ "Oh... what is it?" (what does it contain?)

"Dystopian novels are/fiction is (to clarify that you are talking about a story rather than a 'a book') one of the best selling genres in the nation"

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