Question

请求分析一个句子语法结构，谢谢！

句子是:One former Cabinet minister was even told on Thursday by a ministerial aide that the so-called ‘backstop’ element of the deal, a complex means of avoiding hard border between the province and Ireland, could be refined to meet worries of the DUP and Tory MPs.请问句子里的"a complex means of avoiding hard border between the province and Ireland"是同位语，插入语还是定语从句省略？

Answer 1

a complex means of avoiding hard border between the province and Ireland, 名词词组作backstop同位语，不是定语从句省略，定语从句起修饰作用，而同位语则是定性说明作用，是不可或缺的。

Answer 2

One former Cabinet minister 主was even told 谓on Thursday by a ministerial aide （that the so-called ‘backstop’ element of the deal, （a complex means of avoiding hard border between the province and Ireland同位语）, could be refined to meet worries of the DUP and Tory MPs宾语从句）