TWO ENGLISH MODIFICATION PATTERNS FOR CHINESE STUDENTS

OTH CHINESE AND ENGLISH use word order as a structural device. B However, this does not indicate that all the patterns of word order in the one language are the same as those of the other language. Neither does it indicate that the two languages do not use one or more patterns that are alike. The purpose of this article is to show one striking similarity and one striking difference between the English modification patterns and those in Chinese, to point out the importance of the knowledge of such a difference both to the teacher and to the students, and to show how a difficulty resulting from such a difference can be effectively overcome. The English modification patterns discussed here are limited to those composed of words modifying words that function as nouns. Such modifications fall into two main divisions : pre-modifications and post-modifications. Modifiers which are single words usually precede the word modified: e.g., “I have a red book.” Modifiers which are groups of words usually follow the word modified: e.g., “I have a book from China.” In Chinese, modifiers of both kinds usually precede the word modified. In English a single word when used as a modifier usually precedes what is modified. For example: “the English books,” “the hard books,” “the two books,” “the first books,” “the boy’s books.” When such single words are put together, they usually fall into a specific order. For example: