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Reading this article now,

In the 5th passage,

For those lucky enough not to be living through the Italian lockdown, pay attention: What’s happening in Milan, Florence and Rome offers a likely preview of what’s coming to New York, London or Paris in a week or two. Consider this our letter to you from Italy, written from the seclusion of our couches and dining room tables, with a taste of what you should expect.

I'm afraid I don't understand the bold part correctly.

Consider this our letter to you from Italy, -->OK,

written from the seclusion of our couches and dining room tables,-->?

Who are "our" aka "we"? Italians or Americans in Italy?

Thank you in advance for your help.

1 Answer 1

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Let's look at the definition of the word Seclusion

the state of being alone, away from other people (Cambridge)

now let's look at some similar expressions

The seclusion of a private villa in the countryside

In this examples the writer refers to a private villa which is quite and away from the rest of the city.

Going back to your question:

the seclusion of our couches and dining room tables

This refers to the fact that people in Italy are on lockdown in their houses (by couches and dining tables, the speaker implicitly means their houses), away from others and isolated.

We do know that Italians are the ones secluded, that is isolated NOT Americans, so "our" refers to Italians.

Another way we could get to this conclusion is by figuring out the implicit subject of:

written from the seclusion of our couches and dining room tables

which would be a letter, and who's writing the letter, Italians? or Americans? the answer would be Italians.

Was this helpful?

2
  • Thanks! That "seclusion". I took the meaning of the "seclusion" "positively". Thanks!
    – user17814
    Commented Mar 14, 2020 at 23:59
  • Happy to help :)
    – Fermichem
    Commented Mar 15, 2020 at 0:18

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