Jennifer R. answered • 11/26/22
Excellent teacher with over 20 years of experience
It depends on the context. Why would you ask who wrote it, if there is nothing written? The question basically implies that something is, indeed written, or you wouldn't be asking who wrote it. If something is written, the answer to "who wrote it" can't be nobody, because the fact that it exists means someone wrote it. However, perhaps no one knows who wrote it so people might colloquially answer, "nobody."
Jennifer R.
No. All of those people wrote the content. Therefore, you can't say that nobody wrote the book--the words didn't appear on the page out of thin air. However, in a situation like this, it's common to say the book was edited by the person who pulled the materials together, rather than listing all the individual contributors as the author. ie, "The Quintessential Anthology of Nonsense Articles, edited by Jane Smith" It would also be accurate to say that the book is composed of works by various authors, or even to say that the book was written by various authors.11/28/22
Abhishek C.
In the situation I described in comment, if the different articles written by the different people were compiled into a single book by someone else after the death of all those different people, will it still be wrong to say that nobody wrote the book?12/29/22
Abhishek C.
In the situation I described in Comment, if the articles written by the different people were compiled into a single book by someone else after the death of all those different people, will it still be wrong to say that nobody wrote the book ?12/29/22
Jennifer R.
My answer doesn't change. The people who wrote the articles wrote them and deserve credit, whether they are now dead or not. You can't say "nobody wrote the book," because those people wrote it.12/30/22
Abhishek C.
Well, I also have a misconception regarding another situation which I have described below : Suppose a person tells a lie that a book named 'Read and Imagine' exists although no such book actually exists. Believing that lie to be a truth, another person asks the question "Who wrote 'Read and Imagine' ?" In this case, will the correct answer to that question be "nobody" ?01/27/23
Jennifer R.
Sorry, just saw this. If the book doesn't exist, then nobody wrote it.03/13/23
Abhishek C.
You wrote that if something is written, the answer to "who wrote it" can't be nobody, because the fact that it exists means someone wrote it. But I am getting some exceptions to it. For example, in a calculator, the final result of a calculation automatically appears on the screen without anybody writing it. Besides, when anybody does a Google voice search, whatever he or she says automatically appears on the screen without anybody writing it.04/05/23
Abhishek C.
But I have a misconception regarding one situation which I have explained below : Suppose different people wrote different articles and they never had any intention to compile their writings into a single book. But later somebody else compiled their writings into a single book. In this situation, will it be correct to say that nobody wrote the book?11/28/22