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an opinion that someone offers you about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation (dictionary.cambridge.org)

(1) an opinion
(2) that someone offers you __
(3) about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation

This noun phrase is not easy to understand. Does the dependent of (3) modify a component of (2), that? ; or modify the head of (1), an opinion?

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  • "What is it?" "It's an opinion." "Where do I get it from?" "Someone offers it to you. It's an opinion that someone offers you." "What is it about?" "It's about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation. It's an opinion that someone offers you about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation." – Damkerng T. Sep 05 '14 at 13:12

1 Answers1

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We can start with this sentence:

Someone offers you an opinion [about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation].

It should be clear here that the about-phrase is attached to an opinion. Let's relativize an opinion, turning the whole thing into a noun phrase:

an opinion [that someone offers you ___ ] [about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation]

The about-phrase (3) modifies the head noun an opinion (1) and would make sense even if you removed the relative that-clause (2):

an opinion [about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation]

This should make the relationship clear.