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

Question 1

The tailor altered what the customer had brought in. Here the wh-clause refers to _____.

Options: the answer to which items the customer brought in, the items brought in for alteration, an unanswered question about the customer

Question 2

The investigator wondered what the visitor had concealed. The wh-clause expresses _____.

Options: a conceded fact meaning no matter what was concealed, an entity serving as the physical object of wondered, an embedded question about the concealed item

Question 3

I know exactly what the parcel contains: two replacement lenses. Under this explicit answer-focused reading, the wh-clause is _____.

Options: an embedded interrogative whose answer is known, necessarily a free relative because the answer is known, not interpretable until the contents become uncertain

Question 4

Compare The walkers camped where the river bends with The walkers asked where the river bends. The two wh-clauses express, respectively, _____.

Options: two questions because both begin with where, a place reference and a question about location, a question about location and a place reference

Question 5

Nobody knows the culprit’s name, but whoever damaged the scanner must pay for its repair. The subject wh-clause _____.

Options: is interrogative because the person has not been identified, offers an unrestricted choice of who should pay, refers to the responsible person despite their unknown identity

Question 6

This is a standing rule, not a report of a past incident: Whoever borrows the projector must return it by Friday. The intended reference is _____.

Options: any person who meets the borrowing condition, one actual past borrower whose identity is omitted, the answer to who borrowed the projector

Question 7

With no further context, What the curator selected delighted the sponsor can concern _____.

Options: only the physical object, since what always refers to things, either the selected object or the fact of the selection, only an unanswered question, since selected implies alternatives

Question 8

The purchase itself was expected; only the sculpture’s intricate surface astonished the director. To foreground the entity rather than the selection, write: _____

Options: The fact that they bought that sculpture astonished the director., Which sculpture they bought was what astonished the director., The sculpture they bought astonished the director with its intricate surface.

Question 9

The director knew every feature of the sculpture but had expected the team to buy a photograph. To foreground the unexpected choice, write: _____

Options: The fact that the team chose a sculpture surprised the director., The sculpture surprised the director with its unfamiliar features., The director was surprised to discover what features the sculpture had.

Question 10

An editor encounters I remember what the witness described with no supporting context. The most defensible analysis is that _____.

Options: remember invariably forces an embedded-question reading, recall may concern the described entity or the answer to what was described, statement word order proves that the clause is a free relative

Question 11

Compare We will exhibit whatever the residents donate with Whatever the residents donate, we will exhibit the original collection. The second whatever-clause _____.

Options: identifies the donations as the direct object of exhibit, asks an indirect question about the donations, means no matter what they donate and does not identify the exhibited objects

Question 12

A reviewer finds the answer to the question paraphrase awkward in a particular sentence. When distinguishing an entity reading from an interrogative reading, the reviewer should _____.

Options: combine intended meaning, predicate interpretation and both paraphrase tests, reject an interrogative reading solely because literal substitution sounds awkward, classify the clause solely by its wh-word and word order