English conversation: Describing people using Relative Clauses

Learn how to describe a person in English, including physical appearance and personality.

Dialogue:

Person 1: "Hi! Can you tell me about your friend?"

Person 2: "Sure! Her name is Anna. She is medium height and has long, curly hair. She has green eyes and is very friendly."

Person 1: "That sounds nice! What about her personality?"

Person 2: "Anna is really kind and funny. She always makes me laugh. She's also very smart."

Remember, when describing a person, you can talk about their appearance and personality. Use "is" for singular (he/she/it) and "are" for plural (they). Practice makes perfect!

Grammar Focus:

Describing Appearance:

    She is tall.

    He has short hair.

    They are medium height.

Describing Personality:

    She is friendly.

    He is kind and funny.

    They are shy.

Key Vocabulary:

Tall

Short

Medium height

Hair: long, short, straight, curly

Eyes: blue, brown, green, black

Age: young, middle-aged, old

Friendly

Kind

Funny

Smart

Shy

Describing People Using Relative Clauses

In this unit, we will learn how to describe people using relative clauses. A relative clause gives us more information about a noun (like a person). We often use "who" or "that" to connect the clause to the noun.

1. What is a Relative Clause?

A relative clause is a part of a sentence that describes or gives more information about a noun. It usually comes after the noun it describes.

Example:

My friend who is tall is a good soccer player.

    Here, "who is tall" is a relative clause. It gives more information about "my friend."

2. Using "who" and "that"

    We use "who" to talk about people.

    We can also use "that" instead of "who" to talk about people.

Examples:

    The teacher who helped me is very kind.

    The girl that sings well is my sister.

3. Describing people

When you want to describe someone, you can use relative clauses to give more details about their appearance, personality, or actions.

Examples:

    The boy who wears glasses is my cousin.

    The woman that speaks three languages is my neighbor.

    The man who likes reading books is my uncle.

    The person who is always smiling is my friend.

4. Combining sentences with Relative Clauses

You can combine two simple sentences into one by using a relative clause. This makes your sentences more interesting and informative.

Examples:

Simple sentences:

    Sarah is my classmate. She is very funny.

→ Sarah who is very funny is my classmate.

Simple sentences:

    John is my brother. He lives in New York.

→ John who lives in New York is my brother.


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