French language Q&A Forum

In the writing challenge "The benefits of music" these sentences appear:

"Que ce soit le jazz, le rock ou la variété, il est indéniable que la musique fait partie intégrante de nos vies. Mais que nous apporte-t-elle qui nous soit si indispensable ? C'est bien connu : la musique adoucit les mœurs."

Why is "il est" applicable in the first bold phrase but "c'est" in the second? It appears to me that both are making general statements (about la musique) and both follow est by an adjectival phrase - not a noun, so I would think that case 2a applies in the A1 lessonn "C'est vs il/elle est: Saying it is".

Perhaps that rule is inappropriate here since "la musique" is not a "pre-mentioned thing" but what are the rules being followed here?

In the writing challenge "My mother's favourite singer"

the question

"how much his music means to my mother"

is translated using "compte" or "représente" but couldn't the verb "signifie" also be correct?

In the writing challenge "My mother's favourite singer"

1. The phrase "since then" is translated as "depuis lors" or "depuis" or "depuis cette époque" but shouldn't my answer of "depuis ce moment-là" also be accepted?

2. The verb "has been collecting" is used and is translated as "collectionne" but without knowing how the sentence is going to end aren't we also wondering whether to use  some other verb, as an alternative to "collectionne"?

In the lesson "Passer un exam vs to pass an exam" it says

"To say that you passed an exam, you would use "réussir (à) un exam/ obtenir un exam / avoir un exam"

and give the example:

"Et l'exam que tu as passé le mois dernier? - Hélas, je ne l'ai pas eu / je ne l'ai pas réussi!

What about the exam you took last month? - Unfortunately, I didn't pass. (it)"

but in the writing challenge "My cousin plays the accordion" I was marked wrong for answering

"but she passed it"

with

"mais elle l'a réussi"

where it wanted

"mais elle l'a eu".

Why was that? Aren't both equally valid?

Expecially since, in the context, it was just one exam ("un examen"), not the entire degree course.

In (Australian) English we would say "I passed (or succeeded in) my final exam" but "I got (or obtained) my xxx degree".

Why is "and the accordion used to touch her chin" translated as "et l'accordéon lui touchait le menton" and not as "et l'accordéon la touchait le menton"?

When toucher is used with a noun as an object the pronoun is "la", e.g. "it touches Marie" is "ça touche Marie" and "it touches her" is "ça la touche" so why is "lui" correct in the case above? It seems to imply that the verb was "toucher à".