The number of people invited to the party fifty, but a number of them absent for different reasons.
A. were; was
B. was; was
C. was; were
D. were; were
网友回答
A. were; was
B. was; was
(答案→)C. was; were
D. were; were
解析：考查主谓一致:the number of是“…的数量”，谓语是单数，a number of是“许多，大量”后面接可数名词复数，谓语也是复数，句意：被邀请参加会议的人的数量是50人，但很多人因为不同的原因缺席了，选C。