Question

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

A．were; was

B．was; was

C．was; were

D．were; were

Answer 1

C

解析试题分析：句意：邀请的人数是50人，但许多人因各种原因没到场。The number of+复数名词，表示“……的数目”后面的谓语动词用单数形式；a number of +复数名词或代词，表示“许多……”，后面的谓语动词用复数形式。
考点： 考查短语辨析。