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ESL forum > Ask for help > pile    

pile



tommy1996
Vietnam

pile
 
please tell me what is right
He found this letter in/ among a pile of books.
Thanks 

30 May 2018      





leaponover
United States

Seems like they both are okay grammatically, yet convey a different picture.
 
He found this letter in a pile of books.  -->  This conveys the picture that the letter was found in a somewhat neatly stacked pile of books and the letter was in between two of them.
 
He found this letter among a pile of books  --->  This conveys the books were somewhat haphazardly piled on the floor and the letter was in there somewhere. 
 
I may be corrected, but this is my take on those two sentences. 

30 May 2018     



Matthew@ELSP
Japan

Please remember that if you use "among", you need a plural.
 
I cannot  correctly say "...among a pile of books."
 
I can say correctly say "...among piles of books." 
 
If you are asking about correctness as well as natural speech, then please take note of that point.
 
Hope that helps. 

31 May 2018