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"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, pp.114)

When I read the phrase, I feel like hopping onto the next stepping stone, in between a stone is missed. So I account if the phrase were ‘a credit to whichever house that becomes yours’, I wouldn’t have felt that way.

In this phrase, is there missing subject as I mentioned, or does the phrase itself make the complement of ‘to’? I mean is it the way how English users say?

Listenever
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    This is a "free relative clause" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_relative_clauses) – Erwin Bolwidt Jul 06 '14 at 08:11
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    Eric gives a detailed explanation in his answer. At the intuitive level, there's already a "which(ever)" in the clause, so adding another "which" or "that" wouldn't seem right. – David Richerby Jul 06 '14 at 09:03
  • @DavidRicherby, "you will be a credit to the House whichever house becomes yours" would be okay, wouldn't it? – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 13:43
  • @Listenever No. "Whichever" functions like an article and comes before the noun. "You will be a credit to the House that becomes yours" is fine but doesn't quite convey the meaning of, "And I don't know which one it will be." – David Richerby Jul 06 '14 at 14:59
  • @DavidRicherby, Then is this okay? I'd like to know what antecedent can be recovered. "you will be a credit to any House that becomes yours" – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 15:37
  • @Listenever Yes, that's grammatically good but it doesn't have quite the same meaning. The original implies that each pupil will be assigned to exactly one House but your version leaves open the possibility that a pupil might become a member of multiple Houses or perhaps none at all. – David Richerby Jul 06 '14 at 15:45
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  • The relativizer you want to insert is already 'built in' to whichever, which acts a relative determiner; in older English you could say which House ever becomes yours. 2) In "you will be a credit to the House whichever house becomes yours", the whichever clause should be set off with a comma; it is not a bound relative clause modifying House but an 'absolute' free relative clause modifying the entire main clause; it has the same sense if you front it: "Whichever house becomes yours, you will be a credit to it."
    • – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 06 '14 at 16:10
  • @StoneyB,  Mister StoneyB, Thank you very much. I wouldn’t have to wander around to look for the antecedents. While I was writing down what you’ve said onto my dictionaries, I found an interesting sentence: “It's the same distance whichever way you go.”(Webster’s) This has a “bound” relative clause - if there were comma afore whichever I wouldn’t have made next question. – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 22:45
  • @StoneyB,  [next question] This could be rewritten with the antecedent NP, I thought, as ‘It’s the same distance the way, whichever way you go.” I guess there’s none other way other than this, but there being the omission that comparative constructions have, I am not sure if it’s okay. Can it be right? – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 22:46
  • @StoneyB, Now, I got who the person in your profile is from this YouTube Channel: Samuel Johnson. I’ve been thought it’s you costumed by antique way for being pictured. – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 22:55
  • You can't say that because "It's the same distance the way" isn't English idiom, unless It represents the way and the way is a right-dislocated afterthought - in which case it should be set off with a preceding comma. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 06 '14 at 23:00
  • At last! Recognition! – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 06 '14 at 23:02
  • @StoneyB, Could I understand that your saying means this following can be recognized: “It’s the same distance, the way whichever way you go”? – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 23:13
  • Not quite - you still need to set off the absolute whichever clause with a comma, too. Keep in mind that Xever forms are indefinite, referring to each possible member of a set, so they can't be used in bound relative clauses, which by definition are bound to a specific member of a set. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 06 '14 at 23:32
  • @StoneyB, (1) Then I have to write like this: “It’s the same distance, the way, whichever way you go”, don’t I? (2) “It's the same distance whichever way you go.(Webster’s)” -> in this sentence, is ‘whichever way you go’ not a nominal phrase ‘it’ represent, but a supplement or an adjunct that could be separated by a comma before whichever? – Listenever Jul 06 '14 at 23:44
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    @Listenever Exactly. Commas are often omitted in sentences so brief that they can be taken in at a single glance, to avoid tiring the reader with excessive pointing. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 06 '14 at 23:51
  • @StoneyB, Now I understand the fused or free relative construction, of now, with no further question. Thank you. – Listenever Jul 07 '14 at 00:01