I’m trying to understand why the cloze word is a plural, when the verb is 3rd person singular. I realize the sentence is expressed in the passive tense. Does that have something to do with it?
Ciao hab. Yes I’ve always taken it to be the passive ie “when one does this or that” tho I’m no expert. A dopo…
In other sentence discussions we have established that the masculine plural is used in impersonal contexts, such as this one.
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English Translation
When it comes to musical instruments, the more you practice, the more skilled you become.
But if the adjective is plural, why isn’t the verb associated with it plural as well? (più si diventano abili.)
Because we’re saying “… the more *one (you) practices the more *one becomes able”. We not talking about the musical instruments becoming more able but *one (you).
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This construct is called “si impersonale”. In practice, it is used when you want to make generic statements about something. The rules are quite complex, and I have to say that I apply them without thinking, so it would be hard for me to explain them, if I hadn’t searched for them.
You can find the rules, with numerous examples, here (In Italian):
https://learnamo.com/si-impersonale-italiano/
The rule that applies here is the last paragraph of section 4. Translating:
If the SI impersonale precedes a copulative verb (such as “essere”, “sembrare”, “diventare”, “nominare”…), then the past participle ends with -i (or -e if referring only to women)
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