Final answer:
The clause 'what the new land provided' in the sentence acts as a direct object because it receives the action of the verb used by the subject, 'The settlers.'
Step-by-step explanation:
The sentence in question, "The settlers used what the new land provided," contains a subject, a direct object, and a predicate. The subject of the sentence is 'The settlers,' which is the noun that performs the action of the verb. The verb in this case is 'used,' which is an action verb. The phrase 'what the new land provided' serves as the direct object because it receives the action of the verb and answers the question of what the settlers used. In summary, the entire predicate is 'used what the new land provided,' but the question was asking for the specific role of the clause, so the correct answer is that it acts as the direct object (B).