Breakdown of Il pubblico ha acclamato l'autobiografia per aver raccontato il trionfo.
avere
to have
per
for / in order to / because of
il pubblico
the audience
raccontare
to recount
acclamare
to acclaim
l'autobiografia
the autobiography
il trionfo
the triumph
Questions & Answers about Il pubblico ha acclamato l'autobiografia per aver raccontato il trionfo.
How do we form the per aver raccontato part, and what exactly does it mean?
This is an implicit causal clause. It uses per followed by the past infinitive (aver raccontato, which is the infinitive avere + the past participle) to express the cause or reason for the main action. It translates literally to 'for having recounted' or 'because it recounted'.
I learned that these infinitive clauses usually share the same subject as the main sentence. Why is the autobiography doing the recounting here, not the audience?
Great catch! Usually, the subject of the infinitive must match the main subject (Il pubblico). However, there is an exception for verbs of praising, blaming, judging, or thanking (like acclamare, ringraziare, or punire). With these verbs, the action in the per + past infinitive clause is performed by the direct object being judged. Here, the object being praised is l'autobiografia, so it is the autobiography that did the recounting.
Why does aver drop its final 'e' here instead of being avere?
Since an audience is made up of many people, why is the verb singular (ha acclamato)?
In Italian, collective nouns like il pubblico (the audience or public), la famiglia (the family), and la gente (people) are grammatically singular. Even though they refer to a group of individuals, you must always conjugate their verbs in the third-person singular.
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