Chinese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Chinese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
In the following sentence which explains the usage of ～长～短 phrase:
中间嵌入两个相同的名词，表示对某人某事的亲近和关心。
I don't understand what the 的 here means. Does it refer to "of ~" but what should be after 的 is omitted here? So without any omission, it should be:
表示对某人某事的东西亲近和关心。
Or does it modify the noun after that (亲近和关心)? In that case, I don't understand then what is the object of 表示, since the whole phrase is now under a preposition (对).
Or am I missing something here and possibly neither is correct?
表示 (v) = to indicate /to show / to express
对某人某事 = toward some person or something
"对某人某事(的)" = "(of) toward some person or something"
的 functions as an adjectival suffix here. The whole phrase "对某人某事的" is now an adjectival phrase for the object "亲近和关心" (fondness and concern)
[表示] [对某人某事的] [亲近和关心。]
[to express ] [the fondness and concern] [toward some person or something]
