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Autoritäten fordern Respekt, wohingegen der Zynismus ihn zerstört.

Autoritäten fordern Respekt, wohingegen der Zynismus ihn zerstört.
Authorities demand respect, whereas cynicism destroys it.
From Lesson 453:Gender and plurals of loan words (-ion, -tät, -ismus, -ment, -um)·German

Questions & Answers about Autoritäten fordern Respekt, wohingegen der Zynismus ihn zerstört.

Why is the plural of Autorität formed with -en?
Nouns ending in the Latin suffix -tät (like die Universität, die Qualität) are always feminine. To make them plural, you reliably add -en without adding an umlaut to the root: die Autoritäten.
How do we know the gender of Zynismus?
Nouns ending in the Greek/Latin suffix -ismus (like der Optimismus, der Kapitalismus) are always masculine. They usually describe concepts, ideologies, or movements, and on the rare occasion they are made plural, the ending changes to -ismen.
What type of word is wohingegen and how does it affect the sentence structure?
The word wohingegen is a subordinating conjunction meaning "whereas". Just like weil or obwohl, it introduces a dependent clause and forces the conjugated verb (zerstört) to the very end of the sentence.
What does the pronoun ihn refer to at the end of the sentence?
It refers to Respekt. Since der Respekt is a masculine noun and acts as the direct object being destroyed, it requires the masculine accusative pronoun ihn.

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