Question

The number of people invited ______ fifty, but a number of them ______ absent(缺席) for different reasons.

A．were; was

B．was; was

C．was; were

D．were; were

Answer 1

C

试题分析：句意：受到邀请的人数是五十，但是很多人因为各种各样的原因而缺席。The number of表示“的数量”，其主语为数目，所以后面的谓语动词用单数形式，而a number of them表示“大量，许多”，后面修饰可数名词的复数，后面的谓语动词也用复数形式；故选C。