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In the sentence

  1. I have read your paper, which is very well-written, carefully.

"your paper" is described by the relative clause "which is very well-written".

I'm looking for grammar rules related to the distance between a noun and the relative clause describing it. For example, I'm not sure if the following sentences are grammatical:

  1. I have read your paper carefully, which is very well-written.

  2. I read your paper carefully last night, which is very well-written.

3 Answers 3

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I don't think there's a rule. You could put a tremendous amount of distance, and it would probably elevate the register.

I have read your paper carefully, which is very well-written. I read your paper carefully last night, which is very well-written.

These sound awkard to me, unlike your first sentence, because "which" is usually put right after what it refers to.

1

The "which" clause works in English like an aside, adding more information that is not essential to convey the basic meaning of the sentence.

If the meaning is an "add-on" to the core message, definitely follow the general rule to place nouns close to the associated verbs and add the well-written note in an appositive clause. If you are really trying to convey the compliment on the writing, I'd restructure to focus on the compliment. If you want to convey both things, maybe "Last night I carefully read your well-written paper."

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I am not aware of a concrete distance rule (direct answer to your question), but have been guided by advice that proximity is king.

One way that English works around this is the remarkable (but not complete) freedom to move even our unmarked adverbs throughout the sentence.

I would submit:

"I have carefully read your paper, which..."

This has the benefit of placing the verb and adverb together, and strengthens the proximity between the object and [adjectival clause, I think] by simplifying the rest of the sentence.

One of the best pieces of advice I received is to re-write rather than repair.

I read your paper last night.  It is very well-written.

Your paper is very well-written.  I read it last night.

And in a minor style note, I would also get rid of "very".

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