Breakdown of Il a insulté les membres, de sorte que le réseau a supprimé son profil.
il
he
avoir
to have
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
le membre
the member
le profil
the profile
le réseau
the network
supprimer
to delete
de sorte que
so that (with the result that)
insulter
to insult
Questions & Answers about Il a insulté les membres, de sorte que le réseau a supprimé son profil.
Could I use autrui instead of les membres here to mean he insulted 'others'?
Yes, you could say Il a insulté autrui if you meant he insulted 'others' or 'other people' in a broad, abstract sense. However, autrui is an indefinite pronoun used for people in general. Because this sentence targets a specific, known group (the members of the network), the specific noun les membres is used instead.
Why is de sorte que followed by the indicative (a supprimé) here? Doesn't it require the subjunctive?
De sorte que (so that / with the result that) takes the indicative when it expresses a result or consequence that has actually happened, which is the case here. It only requires the subjunctive when it expresses an intended goal or purpose, meaning 'in order to'.
Could I use the imparfait for the first verb and say Il insultait les membres?
You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. Using the imparfait (Il insultait) would imply 'He used to insult' or 'He was insulting' the members repeatedly over an open-ended period of time. The passé composé (Il a insulté) treats the behavior as a single, completed factual event that triggered the deletion of his profile.
Is de sorte que common in everyday speech, or is there a more casual alternative?
De sorte que is slightly formal, making it perfect for written French or official contexts like a network's terms of service. In casual everyday spoken French, you would much more commonly hear donc (therefore) or alors (so/then) to link an action to its consequence.
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