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俺はいい匂いのするハンカチで、軽く触れる程度に汗を拭いた。/ using the handkerchief with a nice smell....

Also found

妹は何でも姉のするようにした / The younger sister behaved [did everything] just as her older sister did.

When would one choose to use this structure? ie, compared to いい匂いをしているハンカチ edit: いい匂いをしたハンカチ

edit: this is more in regards to する as a descriptor rather than のｖｓが　within clauses.

thanks

charu
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  • Possible dupe: [What does する mean when it does not mean “do”?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2289/9831) – Chocolate Jul 19 '17 at 06:21
  • See also: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/17854/9831・https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/11084/9831・https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/12825/9831 – Chocolate Jul 19 '17 at 06:24

1 Answers1

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いい匂いのするハンカチで、

何でも姉のするようにした

You can also switch these の to が. It's the way to indicate the theme of the verb in a modifying phrase or clause. を doesn't work for these.

Once seeing 匂いをする and 何でも姉をする don't work, いい匂いをしているハンカチ too much sounds as though the handkerchief is performing a smell, while いい匂いをさせたハンカチ works fine.

I've come to notice that the verb forms ている and した should be being used as adjectives, and it can take the subject and make a non-finite (tiny) clause.

Still, as a caution, when it's with する, いい匂いをするハンカチ sounds as though the hankerchief performs a smell, and 何でも姉をするようにした is a very unusual thing to say and has only the sense of 'perform (a stereotype)' and no sense of 'do as (a particular someone does)'.

I think I can take いい匂いをしているお弁当箱{べんとうばこ} or いい匂いをしているジャスミンの花 all right, but you can always choose to say いい匂いのしているお弁当箱 or いい匂いを漂{ただよ}わせているジャスミンの花.

Not to mention, the expressions like 姉をした and 姉をしている can't be used as an adjectives.

You can say any of these without making much difference in meaning:

いい匂いの[が]しているハンカチ
何でも姉の[が]しているようにした

いい匂いの[が]したハンカチ
何でも姉の[が]したようにした。

Just た starts to assume the sense of the past, I think it's because of の・が. They are no problem, but are better to be used when the sense of the past is needed such as when examining several handkerchieves.

karlalou
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  • i meant it as いい匂いをしたハンカチ woops, is there any difference in that regard? – charu Jul 19 '17 at 05:20
  • It's 匂いがする to me, and never 匂いをする to me. いい匂いをしたハンカチ does not sound so bad. – karlalou Jul 19 '17 at 05:34
  • ok thanks! i guess using する as "to have _ property" always felt a bit awkward. – charu Jul 19 '17 at 05:46
  • @charu Could you tell me why いい匂いをしたハンカチ works? Is it something like because 匂いをした becomes an adjective or something? We say 声がする, but not 声をする, but we can say きれいな声をした人 – karlalou Jul 19 '17 at 06:01
  • It's just something i remember from tobira, either A は B をしている、or A をした B. I know about の typically replacing　が in relative clauses but that didn't pop into my head when i read のする since there wasn't any actual "action"; that and it was different than the をした structure, which was the only thing i knew up to now. – charu Jul 19 '17 at 06:07
  • Thanks, charu. We would say 怖い声をする to mean someone make an effort to sound scary, but we don't say 声をする in place of 声がする; this means you hear someon's voice. I think 匂いをする doesn't work because ...even a skunk won't be described as performing a smell.. – karlalou Jul 19 '17 at 06:23