The university board decided to postpone the commencement ceremony, ______ disappointed many graduating students and their families.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. which
- Step 1: Analyze sentential relative clause: The relative clause refers back to the entire preceding proposition ('The board decided to postpone...').
- Step 2: A non-restrictive relative clause modifying a whole clause requires the relative pronoun 'which' preceded by a comma.
Answer
which.
Why not the others: 'that' cannot be used after a comma in non-restrictive clauses; 'what' cannot act as a relative pronoun with an explicit antecedent clause; 'whom' refers only to human direct objects.
Practise more Advanced English Grammar, Verb Tenses, Conditionals and Sentence Structure.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed STEP (Standardized Test of English Proficiency) mock tests.
More Advanced English Grammar, Verb Tenses, Conditionals and Sentence Structure questions
- Neither the project manager nor the civil engineers ______ satisfied with the preliminary soil test results.
- By the time the international flight landed at King Khalid International Airport, the delegation ______ for three hours.
- If the pharmaceutical company ______ the clinical trial protocol earlier, the regulatory approval would have been granted last month.
- Hardly ______ the laboratory building when the fire alarm sounded loudly throughout the campus.
- The university committee recommended that every incoming student ______ a comprehensive mathematics placement examination.
- The new solar energy plant, ______ construction was completed ahead of schedule, will supply electricity to over 50,000 households.