Grammar: B1 - ✨ Grammar Essentials: 🧩 Parts of Speech & 🏗️ Sentence Structure - Lesson 2: Defining Relative Clauses with "which" (for things)

Grammar: Defining Relative Clauses

B1 Lesson 18: Using 'which' for Things & Animals

What you will learn: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use the relative pronoun 'which' to give essential, defining information about things and animals.

Giving Essential Information About Things

Last time, we learned to use 'who' to identify people. Today, we'll learn the word for identifying things and animals: which. A clause starting with 'which' joins two sentences into one to explain exactly what you're talking about.

How to Combine Sentences with 'which'

Let's combine two simple sentences:

1. Start with two ideas: "The restaurant serves great food." and "It is near the river."
2. Replace the second subject pronoun (It) with which. This creates the relative clause: "which is near the river."
3. Place the new clause directly after the noun it describes ("The restaurant").

The restaurant which is near the river serves great food.

In Conversation

Notice how 'who' and 'which' work together in a conversation to identify people and things.

Maria: Our tour guide today was excellent!

David: Which one? Was it the man who told the funny stories?

Maria: Yes! And I loved the first temple which was made of sandstone.

David: Me too. The carvings which covered the walls were incredible.

The 'that' Alternative and Summary

Informal English: Using 'that'

In everyday conversation, it's very common to use that instead of 'who' for people and 'which' for things. All three are correct, but 'that' is often more natural in spoken English.

Relative Pronoun	Used For	Example
who	People	The man who drives a tuk-tuk...
which	Things & Animals	The temple which is on the hill...
that	People or Things (Informal)	The man/temple that...

Practice Your Grammar 🎯

Exercise: Choose 'who' or 'which'

Complete the sentences with the correct relative pronoun.

1. The tour guide ______ helped us was very funny.
   → who
2. I want to eat at the restaurant ______ serves the best fish amok.
   → which
3. The artist ______ painted this picture lives in Siem Reap.
   → who
4. This is the bus ______ goes to the airport.
   → which

Your Grammar Mission ⭐

Describe Your World

Write two sentences describing things you own or places you know in your town. Use a defining relative clause with 'which' in each sentence.

Example: I have a phone which takes good pictures.

Key Vocabulary

• Thing (Noun) | វត្ថុ
  An object that is not alive, such as a table, phone, or book.
• Animal (Noun) | សត្វ
  A living creature that is not a human, such as a dog, cat, or bird.