The number of people invited fifty but a number of them absent for different reasonsA. w

问题补充：

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

答案：

A. were;was

B. was;was

(答案→)C. was;were

D. were;were

解析：

这题考查主谓一致的用法，the number of…谓语动词用单数，a number of…谓语用复数。选C。