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À force de harcèlement et d'insinuations, elle a pleuré.

À force de harcèlement et d'insinuations, elle a pleuré.
Due to constant harassment and insinuations, she cried.
From Lesson 338:Emphatic absolute negation (ne… aucunement)·French

Questions & Answers about À force de harcèlement et d'insinuations, elle a pleuré.

Why use À force de instead of just à cause de?
While à cause de simply means "because of," à force de adds the idea of intensity, repetition, or prolonged effort. It translates well to "by dint of" or "due to constant." Here, it shows that the harcèlement (harassment) wasn't a one-time event, but something that wore her down over time.
Why are there no articles before harcèlement and insinuations?
After the expression à force de, you typically drop the definite or indefinite article (like le, les, or des) before the noun. You connect the noun directly to de (or d' before a vowel). Therefore, it is de harcèlement and not du harcèlement.
Why is there a d' before insinuations?
In French, you must repeat the preposition de before every noun in a series. Even though the expression à force de applies to the whole phrase, the de must be restated (and contracted to d' before a vowel sound) right before insinuations.
Why use the passé composé (elle a pleuré) instead of the imparfait?
The passé composé highlights a specific, completed result. The constant harassment happened over a period of time, but her breaking down and crying is treated as the final, completed action that resulted from it.

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