up and down

[tzfujimino]

Hello.
I found the question below in an exercise book for Japanese high school students. They are asked to choose the most appropriate expression for the blank from among the four alternatives:

Until recently, histories of children's literature were almost exclusively written .................. the Western countries that had strong traditions of publishing for children.

1. in and about
2. in and out
3. up and about
4. up and down

The answer, according to the book, is #4. However, I don't think so. I think #1 is the most suitable (grammatically and semantically).
Am I correct? If #4 is the right answer, what does it mean in the context? Could it be used in the sense of 'all over'?
Thank you.

(Edit) On second thought, 'about' doesn't make sense, since it's 'histories of children's literature'. In that case, the only option left for me is #4.

 

[Jiayun]

I'm not a teacher but I think the preposition 'by' could be used here to convey the similar meaning.

 

[SoothingDave]

"In and about" is the best choice. The others make no sense.

 

[tzfujimino]

Thank you, Jiayun.
However, I don't think your suggestion works. Countries don't write histories, do they?
:-D

 

[tzfujimino]

"In and about" is the best choice. The others make no sense.

Thank you, Dave.:-D
Does 'histories of children's literature were written about the Western countries' make sense?

 

[Jiayun]

Yes you are right. Thank you for your advise. Just another thought, what if the history was written by the education department of the government of that country, could I still say it's written by the country? I know in reality it's rarely written by the government. ;-)

 

[tzfujimino]

Yes you are right. Thank you for your advise. Just another thought, what if the history was written by the education department of the government of that country, could I still say it's written by the country? I know in reality it's rarely written by the government. ;-)

Hello again.
I'm not sure if 'the history was written by the department of ...' works, but I think 'the report was written by the department of ...' is perfect.
:-D

It's 'advice', not 'advise', by the way.

 

[SoothingDave]

Thank you, Dave.:-D
Does 'histories of children's literature were written about the Western countries' make sense?

Sure. The history is about the children's literature in that country.

 

[bhaisahab]

Thank you, Dave.:-D
Does 'histories of children's literature were written about the Western countries' make sense?

The original sentence makes sense with "in" and "about", as SoothingDave said.