Free Relative Clauses: Reference and Ambiguity —
Forms in Context.

Question 1

The conservator preserved _____ the fire had spared, including several handwritten letters.

Options: which, what, that

Question 2

The editor accepted the corrections _____ the reviewer had recommended.

Options: what, whatever, that

Question 3

For a neutral reference to a person in ordinary contemporary English, complete: The receptionist thanked _____ had returned the missing badge.

Options: the person who, who, the person what

Question 4

Send the access code to _____ supervises the evening shift.

Options: whomever, whoever, whichever

Question 5

In Invite whomever the panel recommends, the formal form whomever is licensed because it is _____.

Options: the subject of recommends inside the clause, an object solely because invite precedes the clause, the object of recommends inside the clause

Question 6

In less formal usage, Hire whoever the team trusts is _____.

Options: acceptable, with whoever used as an internal object, incorrect because whoever can only be an internal subject, acceptable only if whoever introduces a question

Question 7

The auditor wondered _____ before the inspection.

Options: what had the staff removed, what the staff had removed, what did the staff remove

Question 8

In Whoever authorised the transfer must attend the hearing, the whole wh-clause is _____, and whoever inside it is _____.

Options: the object of authorised, the object of attend, the subject of must attend, the subject of authorised

Question 9

In The museum displayed what the divers recovered, the whole wh-clause is _____, while what is _____.

Options: the subject of recovered, the object of displayed, the subject of displayed, the object of recovered

Question 10

The instruction Use whichever of the four labelled sockets is free presents the available alternatives as _____.

Options: a contextually delimited set, an unrestricted range with no stated boundary, an indirect question requiring an answer

Question 11

In The technician stored whatever remained usable, whatever presents the material as _____.

Options: one item selected from an explicitly numbered list, anything meeting the stated condition within the relevant range, a question about which material was usable

Question 12

In We will restart the discussion when everyone is present, the when-clause has _____.

Options: an interrogative interpretation forced by when, a fused-relative label in every grammatical framework, a time interpretation, often labelled temporal adverbial