Tonight, a love song. A very simple one, written for a real person.
Learn from Songs · Unit 10: Relative clauses · B1
Perfect
A love song written for the woman who became the singer’s wife: describing a person with who, that and whose, leaving out the pronoun (the girl I love), and the night (when / that)…, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
Who?
SOPHIA
A girl he had known since school, and later married. Listen to how he describes her, and the night they danced.
MARCOS
Dancing? I’m leaving.
Before you listen: the song
Suffolk, England, 2017
Ed Sheeran grew up in Suffolk, in the east of England, and taught himself to play the guitar as a boy. He wrote “Perfect” for Cherry Seaborn, a girl he had known at school, who became his girlfriend and later his wife.
He has said that the song was inspired by a night when the two of them danced barefoot on the grass at a friend’s party. It was on his album ÷ (Divide, 2017) and went to number one in Britain and America. He also recorded it as a duet with Beyoncé and, in a classical version, with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
In the song, the singer has found a love that is just for him. He remembers the girl he knew when they were young, and the night they danced in the dark. Now he sees the woman who will be the mother of his children, and he thinks she is perfect.
Who is the person you would dance barefoot with?
Listen: the description
PHILO
Listen once. Where do they dance? What does he say about her when they were young? What does he hope for the future?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A. Listen for the moments he describes, not only the feelings.
💍 Listen to the song: “Perfect” (Ed Sheeran, 2017), sung by Ed Sheeran.Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Perfect”, Ed Sheeran.Read the lyrics →
Who and that
MARCOS
She’s the girl who stole his heart. It’s a love that lasts.
SOPHIA
who or that for people, which or that for things: a song that everyone knows. In everyday English, that is very common for both.
Leaving out the pronoun
DEMETRIA
The girl he loves. The song he wrote for her.
SOPHIA
If the clause already has its own subject (he), we can leave out who / that: the girl (that) he loves. This is called a contact clause, and it is very natural in songs and speech.
Whose
PHILO
She’s a woman whose smile changes everything.
SOPHIA
whose + noun for possession, for people and things: the man whose guitar is broken, the city whose streets I know. Don’t confuse it with who’s (= who is).
The night when / that
DEMETRIA
The night (when) they danced in the dark.
SOPHIA
After time words (the night, the day, the year), we can use when, that, or nothing: the day (that) we met.
Sophia’s comparison: Ruth and Boaz, and Odysseus
PHILO
Boaz saw Ruth working in the fields and asked, “Whose young woman is this?” And she became the great-grandmother of King David.
SOPHIA
And Odysseus, after twenty years, knew Penelope was the one because she knew the secret of their bed, which he had built round a living olive tree.
MARCOS
Fine, that’s a good love story. But I’m still not dancing.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| who / that | describing people | She’s the girl who stole his heart. |
| which / that | describing things | a song that everyone knows |
| (that) + subject + verb | contact clauses: no pronoun | the girl he loves |
| whose + noun | possession | a woman whose smile changes everything |
| the night (when / that) | time words | the night (when) they danced |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Who did Ed Sheeran write the song for?
2. Where do they dance?
3. How does he describe the love he has found?
4. What does he imagine for the future?
5. Who sang a duet version with him?
6. Where did Ed Sheeran grow up?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. She’s the girl stole his heart.
8. It’s a song everyone knows.
9. He found a woman smile changes everything.
10. That was the night they danced in the dark.
11. Ed Sheeran is a singer songs are everywhere.
12. The girl he at school became his wife. (know)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “She’s the girl who he loves her.”
14. “He wrote a song that everyone knows.”
15. “He’s the singer who’s guitar is old.”
16. “That was the day we met.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
The perfect person. Describe your idea of a perfect friend or partner: someone who…, someone whose…, someone I can…
Discuss. 1. Is any person really “perfect”? 2. Why are so many songs written about real people? 3. What makes a good wedding song?
Write (100–120 words). The night we… Describe a special night with friends or family. Use who, that, whose, one contact clause and the night (when)…
Now play the gamebook: a wedding in Alexandria, a lost ring and a very nervous groom.Play the gamebook →