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The following sentence is from a formal conversation. The student is talking
to a teacher.

実は日本語のクラスでプロジェクトワークをしていまして、私は日本の歴史の教科書をトピックに選びました。

Can someone explain to me the **exact** meaning of "教科書をトピックに選びました"? Literally
translated it appears that he "chose a textbook", but that seems like a
strange thing to say, since students don't normally choose their own textbooks
(no other context about the project work is given). As an adverb, I'm not sure
what トピックに could mean.

Alternately, could it be an equivalent of 教科書をトピックにする, i.e. "make the textbook
into the topic" of the project? Is it common to replace にする with other verbs
such as に選ぶ, if this is the case?
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2013-12-27T00:35:47.520
13896
2016-02-14T06:04:15.880
2016-02-14T06:04:15.880
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question
meaning
Exact meaning of 教科書をトピックに選ぶ
Actually, a literal translation will work perfectly here --- provided that one
is able to "detect" the implied plurality of the 日本の歴史の教科書.

私は日本の[歴史]{れきし}の[教科書]{きょうかしょ}をトピックに[選]{えら}びました means "I selected Japanese
History textbooks as a topic (for my project work in my Japanese language
class)."

If it helps, think of it as 私は『日本の歴史の教科書』をトピックに選びました .

トピックに ＝ トピックとして

It is not saying that you can choose your textbook. It is saying you chose
"Japanese Hitory textbooks" as a topic.

And yes, you can rephrase it to 日本の歴史の教科書をトピックにする without changing the
meaning. It is just that it sounds "better" if you use a more specific verb
like 選ぶ than using the broad する. Use [選択]{せんたく}する and it will sound even more
formal.
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2013-12-27T01:15:01.570
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2013-12-27T01:15:01.570
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answer