diff --git a/questiontype.php b/questiontype.php
index 9d0455d..a739442 100755
--- a/questiontype.php
+++ b/questiontype.php
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ protected function initialise_question_instance(question_definition $question, $
         $r = substr($question->delimitchars, 1, 1);
 
         $nongapregex = '/\\' . $l . '.*?\\' . $r . '/';
-        $nongaptext = preg_split($nongapregex, $question->questiontext, null, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
+        $nongaptext = preg_split($nongapregex, $question->questiontext, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
         $i = 0;
         while (!empty($nongaptext)) {
             $question->textfragments[$i] = array_shift($nongaptext);
diff --git a/renderer.php b/renderer.php
index 239acac..080f56d 100755
--- a/renderer.php
+++ b/renderer.php
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ public function embedded_element(question_attempt $qa, $place, question_display_
         $question = $qa->get_question();
         $fieldname = $question->field($place);
 
-        $currentanswer = $qa->get_last_qt_var($fieldname);
+        $currentanswer = $qa->get_last_qt_var($fieldname) ?? '';
         $currentanswer = htmlspecialchars_decode($currentanswer);
         $rightanswer = $question->get_right_choice_for($place);
         $itemsettings = $this->get_itemsettings($rightanswer);