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I am not sure whether the following sentence is grammatically correct. Could someone please guide me on this? Is there a better alternative?

I am the new CEO of this company who has taken over from Josh.

Thanks!

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    If you insert a comma after "company", it should be OK.
    – BillJ
    Commented Feb 28, 2019 at 14:31
  • It sounds very confusing to me. If i understand what you are trying to say, it should be two sentences because the who in third person makes this sound very indefinite like this is the third person in a row to become CEO. This sounds more definitive- "I am the new CEO of this company. "I have taken over the company from Josh."
    – Karlomanio
    Commented Feb 28, 2019 at 15:24

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"Who" is a pronoun for the subject, and "I" is the subject of this sentence, so yes the sentence is grammatically correct.

That said, I think it reads just a tiny bit awkwardly and better alternatives might be:

  • I have taken over from Josh as the new CEO of this company.
  • I am the new CEO of this company. I have taken over from Josh.

I've been trying to figure out what exactly I find awkward about the original, and I think it's because I experienced a moment of ambiguous interpretation between "I am the new CEO [of this company] who has taken over from Josh." and "I am the new CEO of [this company who has taken over from Josh]." Obviously a company is not a person and we probably wouldn't use "who" for it, so it resolves in the end.

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    The original is awkward because the relative clause should be a non-defining one, not a defining one. Only one new CEO could have taken over from Josh.
    – BillJ
    Commented Feb 28, 2019 at 14:34
  • It's quite possible that it can be a restrictive clause—if there have been multiple new CEOs in a given year, and you need to specify that, among those, you are the one who took over from Josh. It would not normally be taken that way, and that's why it sounds odd (especially with the tense used), but it's still possible. Five ex-CEOs in a room, with a sign on the door that reads New (and ex) CEOs This Year: "Hi, I'm Josh, the new CEO who took over from Barb." "And I'm Trent, the new CEO who took over from Josh."
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Feb 28, 2019 at 18:28

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