Is there more than one way to look at this?
A sentence that I posted earlier today sparked a conversation between my husband and I and we are still not sure what the answer is...
In English, the sentence was "Two homeruns in the same game by Willson Contreras livened up the crowd at Wrigley Field today.
I originally wrote Dos jonrones en el mismo juego por Willson Contreras amenizó a la multitud en Wrigley Field hoy. (I thought that I was putting the emphasis on the crowd, which became enlivened, so I chose the singular.)
But the correction pointed out that I should have said
Dos jonrones en el mismo juego por Willson Contrares amenizaron a la multitud en Wrigley Field hoy. (That, I suppose, puts the emphasis on the homeruns which caused the crowd to become enlivened, and homeruns are plural.)
My question is this....can it go either way, depending on what you want to emphasize, or is there only one possibility here, and it has to be plural because if you take out the middle part you get ...Dos jonrones amenizaron....
5 Answers
Are you sure the verb should be "amenizar"?
I'll try to give you examples that sound good with "amenizar".
La banda de rock amenizó la velada con media hora de actuación.
Juan amenizó la fiesta con su sarta de chistes graciosos.
El pianista y su hermana, la cantante, amenizaron la función.
El payaso amenizó la noche y generó sonrisas en los concurrentes.
This is the way I've always heard the verb "amenizar". Let's see what others have to say.
A very common collocation could be "enardecieron a la multitud" but I think it's too much to just say"liven up".
Maybe we could say something like:
.......... hicieron salir del desánimo a la multitud.
.......... despertaron a la multitud
......... hicieron salir del letargo a la multitud
........ despertaron del letargo a la multitud
........ avivaron a la multitud (I personally don't like this one)
........ reavivaron a la multitud.
I would like to hear other people especially native speakers.
I agree that the original sentence was incorrect, the subject of this sentence is the home runs, the direct object is the crowd. Regarding the question: Can this be said in another way? Yes, almost always. 
I'll show a couple of options and I look forward to possible corrections and options from other members.
Original corrected sentence:
Dos jonrones en el mismo juego por Willson Contrares amenizaron a la multitud en Wrigley Field hoy.
Using se passive:
Hoy la multitud en Wrigley se amenizó cuando Wilson Contrares bateó dos jonrones en el mismo juego.
Today, the crowd at Wrigley field got excited when Wilson Contrares hit two home runs in the same game.
I bolded these sentences, because they are my favorites to to express what I think Echoline is trying to emphasize. By the way, passive sometime connotes "boring / ho-hum" I think this is an unfortunate interpretation of the passive as, to me, it can often provide a more exciting and elegant way of expression than the active voice. In the same way as the word "got" in English has a certain punch at times.
Using se passive, swapping the first and second clauses:
Cuando Wilson Contrares bateó dos jonrones en el mismo juego hoy, la multitud en Wrigley se amenizó.
To me, the original corrected sentence is more matter of fact...this is what happened and the crowd was enlivened / got excited.
Putting the clause with the crowd "getting excited" first puts more emphasis on the fact that the crowd was livened up and then it explains what made this happen. I think it creates more tension. OK the crowd got excited...why????
The third sentence with the clauses switched seems similar to the original, but perhaps puts more emphasis on the crowd getting livened up than the original sentence because the verb is conjugated according to the crowd, rather than according to the two home runs. To me is also seems a little more dynamic because of the use of batear (hit / batted) rather than just mentioning that they happened by using "two homes runs" as the main subject of the sentence.
In both of the passive se sentences I put the crowd before the verb. I think it is possible to put the se + verb before the crowd in both sentences. You can be the judge regarding any shade of meaning putting the crowd before or after the verb might provide.
I am not a native speaker so I look forward to corrections to my Spanish and comments regarding my interpretation of emphasis.
P.S. The main reason I went with cuando in my revised sentences, instead of using "por / by" is that I believe there is a general prohibition against using por...simply mentioning the agent when using passive se. As is turns out, I like using cuando instead because I was easily able to insert the active verb batear.
polenta1 Are you sure the verb should be "amenizar"?
Fully agree with Polenta here. As soon as I saw "amenizar", it all looked very strange to me.
I think that DilKen's very detailed answer leads in the right direction: complex sentences like the given example cannot be translated directly, they must be interpreted - and the choice of verb is an important element.
My take on that sentence would be something like:
"Dos jonrones de Willson Contreras en el mismo juego deleitaron a la multitud de hoy en el estadio Wrigley" (Note the correction in the spelling of Contrera's name, btw).
In any event, I think the original sentence is wordy and awkward. I'd write something a bit tighter: "Wilson Contreras thrilled the crowd at the Wrigley by hitting two home runs today", or some such.
Hi everybody, this thread is based on the WOTD.
The given verb was "amenizar", that's why Echoline used it and I didn't change it.
I definitely agree, deleitar, avivar, or for example, poner de pie...would have been better.
Hi everybody, this thread is based on the WOTD.
The given verb was "amenizar", that's why Echoline used it and I didn't change it.
I think that part of the learning process, is gaining an understanding of vocabulary that allows us to realize that certain choices just don't make a whole lot of sense in our target language, or they just don't sound natural.
I had a similar problem with the Picture of the Day thread about the chicken and the tigers today, for example. Everyone knows what "hang time" or "air time" is in basketball. The joke was easy and obvious in English. It was very difficult to come up with the Spanish version, because (I was surprised to discover), there's no widely accepted equivalent expression in Spanish.
In short, then, learning a different language is more than learning grammar and structures, it is also about learning context-appropriate vocabulary, cultural references, slang, and many other important nuances.
