PROBLEMS FOR ESL/EFL STUDENTS
J.Schachter (1974:202-208). In discussing the work of Keenan and Comrie (1972).identifies three main dimensions along which relative clauses can differ. The first dimension has to do with the position of the relative clause with respect to the head noun,i.e., the noun being modified. As should be clear from the examples above, English relative clauses follow the head noun. This is also true of relative clauses in most European languages and also in languages such as Farsi and Arabic. Not all languages, however, adhere to this syntactic pattern. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, for instance, all require that the relative clause occur before the head noun. Students who are native speakers of these languages will have to grasp this fundamental ordering difference.