Choose the best alternative. (15 p.)

The tradition of the Christmas pickle is one of the strangEST Christmas customs 1. (that / who/ whose) I’ve heard of. In the 1880s, Woolworth stores, 2. (who / which / that) were a chain of department stores in the USA, started selling glass ornaments from Germany, 3. (some of which / some of whom / whose) were shaped like fruits and vegetables. The pickle was said to be a special ornament.

The FIRST child 4. (that / which / whom) found the pickle on the Christmas tree got an extra present. However, my German friends, 5. (most of which / most of whom / whom) have heard this story from me, say it’s not a German tradition at all!

However, there are two stories, 6. (both of whom / both of which / whose) link the pickle to Christmas. One is of a soldier 7. (who / which / whom) was born in Bavaria. He was a prisoner and starving. He asked a guard for one last pickle. The guard took pity on him, 8. (what / which / that) meant he gave him a pickle. 9. (Which / That / What) happened was that the pickle gave the prisoner the strength to live on.

The other story 10. (that / who / what) is told to children is linked to St. Nicholas. When two boys stopped at an inn, the evil innkeeper killed them and put them in a pickle barrel. That same evening, during 11. (that / which /what) St. Nicholas stopped at the inn, he found the boys and brought them back to life, 12. (what / which / that) surprised everybody of course.

Actually, there is another legend 13. (which / whose / that) plot is similar, but pickles aren’t mentioned in it! So, it’s likely that ornament salesmen, 14.
(who / that / which) had a lot of pickles to sell, 15. (most of which / most of whom / whose) probably didn’t look beautiful, invented the story of the Christmas pickle to sell the ugly ornaments. Or what do you think?