Subject and object in a sentence with は and が: 確かに妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは


> 確かに妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは、仕事の仕方が他の人とは[一味]{ひとあじ}違っていることに気がついた。

I'm a bit confused about は and が in this sentence and I can't guess which one
is the subject or object.

  1. I tried parsing the sentence like this:  
妻が/////「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは

妻 が is the subject

「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは -> it's like the person who said 「ついていてほしい」 is 看護婦(？)(？)

Or:

  2. 妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った/////看護婦さんは  
妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った adverbially modifies 看護婦

A nurse that my wife wants to take care of her.

Which one is correct?




> 確かに`???`に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed `???`.

Someone may say this 確かに modifies 違っている, but I think it's easier to think this
確かに as a [sentence
adverb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_\(linguistics\)#Examples). The
main topic of the whole sentence is 私 (i.e., 妻's husband), which is omitted.
`???` is a fairly long noun sentence, where 看護師 is the topic.

> 確かに[看護師さん **は** 仕事の仕方 **が** 違っていること]に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed [that the nurse was different in her way of working].

"AはBが違う" literally means "As for A, B is different" or more naturally, "A is
different in B".

> 確かに[看護師さんは仕事の仕方が **他の人とは一味** 違っていること]に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed [that the nurse was _somewhat_ different _from
> others_ in her way of working].

は in 他の人とは is contrastive (and thus optional). 一味 is a nuanced word meaning
"small but significant", "somehow", etc.

> 確かに妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは、仕事の仕方が他の人とは一味違っていることに気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed that the nurse **whom my wife wanted to look after
> [me/you/our son/etc]** was somewhat different from others in her way of
> working.

`妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った` _adjectivally_ (not _adverbially_ ) modifies 看護師 as a
relative clause. (lit. "the nurse about which my wife said 'I want her to be
with [you/me/our son/etc]' ")

So-called thematic は can appear in a noun clause like this (e.g, 彼 **は**
学生だと思う = I think he is a student), but not in a relative clause which modifies
another noun (e.g. [×]彼 **は** 食べたケーキ [○]彼 **が** 食べたケーキ). That's why が is used
after 妻 and は is used after 看護師.




> 確かに`???`に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed `???`.

Someone may say this 確かに modifies 違っている, but I think it's easier to think this
確かに as a [sentence
adverb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_\(linguistics\)#Examples). The
main topic of the whole sentence is 私 (i.e., 妻's husband), which is omitted.
`???` is a fairly long noun sentence, where 看護師 is the topic.

> 確かに[看護師さん **は** 仕事の仕方 **が** 違っていること]に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed [that the nurse was different in her way of working].

"AはBが違う" literally means "As for A, B is different" or more naturally, "A is
different in B".

> 確かに[看護師さんは仕事の仕方が **他の人とは一味** 違っていること]に気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed [that the nurse was _somewhat_ different _from
> others_ in her way of working].

は in 他の人とは is contrastive (and thus optional). 一味 is a nuanced word meaning
"small but significant", "somehow", etc.

> 確かに妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った看護婦さんは、仕事の仕方が他の人とは一味違っていることに気がついた。  
>  Admittedly, I noticed that the nurse **whom my wife wanted to look after
> [me/you/our son/etc]** was somewhat different from others in her way of
> working.

`妻が「ついていてほしい」と言った` _adjectivally_ (not _adverbially_ ) modifies 看護師 as a
relative clause. (lit. "the nurse about which my wife said 'I want her to be
with [you/me/our son/etc]' ")

So-called thematic は can appear in a noun clause like this (e.g, 彼 **は**
学生だと思う = I think he is a student), but not in a relative clause which modifies
another noun (e.g. [×]彼 **は** 食べたケーキ [○]彼 **が** 食べたケーキ). That's why が is used
after 妻 and は is used after 看護師.

