Breakdown of Il quaranta per cento degli intervistati in questa fascia d'età hanno rilevato lo sbaglio.
questo
this (masculine)
lo sbaglio
the mistake
avere
to have
in
in / made of (material)
di
of, from
quaranta
forty
cento
one hundred
l'età
the age (f)
per cento
per (in percentages)
l'intervistato
the respondent / the interviewee (m)
rilevare
to detect / to note
la fascia
the bracket / the group (e.g., age or income bracket)
Questions & Answers about Il quaranta per cento degli intervistati in questa fascia d'età hanno rilevato lo sbaglio.
Why is the verb plural (hanno rilevato) when the subject begins with the singular "il quaranta per cento"?
This is an example of concordanza a senso (agreement by meaning). Even though il quaranta per cento is grammatically singular, it is followed by the plural noun degli intervistati. Because the actual meaning of the subject refers to a plural group of people, the verb is often conjugated in the plural (hanno rilevato). Using the singular (ha rilevato) is also grammatically correct, but the plural is very common and natural in modern Italian.
What does "fascia" literally mean in the phrase "fascia d'età"?
Literally, a fascia is a "band," "strip," or "sash." However, in contexts involving statistics, demographics, or pricing, it translates to "bracket" or "range." Therefore, fascia d'età is the standard Italian idiom for "age bracket" or "age group."
If the respondents were all women, would the past participle "rilevato" change to "rilevate" to match?
No, it stays rilevato. Even though the verb is plural to match the respondents, the auxiliary verb used here is avere (hanno). In Italian, the past participle only agrees with the subject when the auxiliary verb is essere.
Could I use "errore" instead of "sbaglio" at the end of this sentence?
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