"That" - Can it Refers to something far away in sentence

[neeshpal]

Can someone please help me in this sentence. Its really confusing me.


Can relative pronoun "That" refers to something that is far away in a sentence.

Ex: No proof existed untill it began to rain that the day was going to be rainy.

Here can "that" refers to the "proof".

or the sentence has to be changed to this so that the "that" comes next to "proof":

Untill it began to rain, there existed no proof that the day was going to be rainy.

Thank You.

[esledge]

Your second sentence is definitely better.

Until it began to rain, there existed no proof that the day was going to be rainy.

Not only is it better to put "that" right after "proof," but also the "until" phrase more clearly modifies the entire main clause when placed at the beginning of the sentence.

The basic rule is to put relative clauses right after the noun you want to modify, unless you have so many modifiers of that noun that it is impossible to make them all touch the noun.