Grammar: B1 - ✨ Grammar Essentials: 🧩 Parts of Speech & 🏗️ Sentence Structure - Lesson 1: Defining Relative Clauses with "who" (for people)

✨ Lesson 1: Defining Relative Clauses with "who" (for people)

Welcome to our B1 series! At this level, we learn to connect our ideas to make more complex and interesting sentences. We do this with special clauses, and today we will learn about Defining Relative Clauses¹.

A defining relative clause gives essential² information to identify³ exactly which person or thing we are talking about. To talk about people, we use the relative pronoun who.

How to Build the Sentence

A relative clause joins two simple sentences together. Let's look at an example:

1. We have two simple sentences: "The man is a tour guide." and "He speaks French."
2. We replace the second subject pronoun (He) with who.
3. We put this new clause⁴ directly after the noun it describes ('The man').

The man who speaks French is a tour guide.

The clause "who speaks French" defines which man we are talking about. Without it, we don't know who he is.

More Examples

• The woman is my teacher. + She lives next door.
  → The woman who lives next door is my teacher.
• I thanked the person. + He found my phone.
  → I thanked the person who found my phone.
• The children are playing outside. + They are from Canada.
  → The children who are from Canada are playing outside.

Informal English: Using 'that'
In everyday conversation and informal writing, you will often hear people use that instead of 'who'. This is very common, but 'who' is generally preferred for people in formal writing.

• The man that speaks French is a tour guide. (Correct, but informal)

🧠 Practice Quiz: Join the Sentences

Combine the two sentences into one using a defining relative clause with 'who'.

1. The girl is very smart. She won the competition.
   → The girl who won the competition is very smart.
2. I spoke to the man. He works at the hotel reception.
   → I spoke to the man who works at the hotel reception.
3. The tour guide was excellent. He showed us the best photo spots.
   → The tour guide who showed us the best photo spots was excellent.

📝 Homework: Describe People You Know

Write three sentences about people you know. Use a defining relative clause with 'who' in each sentence to identify them.

Example: I have a friend who lives in Phnom Penh.

---

1: ___________________________________

2: ___________________________________

3: ___________________________________

Vocabulary Glossary

1. Relative Clause: (Noun) - ឃ្លាភ្ជាប់ (khlēa phchoăp) / អនុប្រយោគ (ânŭ'brâyoŭk) - A clause that is connected to a main clause and gives more information about a noun. ↩
2. Essential: (Adjective) - ចាំបាច់ (chambach) - Absolutely necessary; extremely important. ↩
3. Identify: (Verb) - កំណត់អត្តសញ្ញាណ (kamnât âttâ'sanh'nhean) - To say who or what somebody/something is. ↩
4. Clause: (Noun) - ឃ្លា (khlēa) - A group of words that includes a subject and a verb. ↩