Japanese - Ask questions thread

Basically if you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.

To start it off. When an animate object (iru) dies, is it considered inanimate(aru)?

I'm really confused on the difference between the direct objectを and the subjectが

eg nihongo no hon ____ mitsukarimasen.
The answer is が but why can't it be を? the book is the object that can not be found, right?

Maybe the problem lies in my vague understanding of what the grammar of subject/direct obj mean in English.. I look up the definitions of both but it doesn't seem to help me in many cases

I guess here's another example
この漢字の読み方（　　）わかりますか
I'm pretty sure the answer is が, I just don't know why. I'm hopeless with grammar...