A number of или the number of? Это очень просто.

A number of переводится — “несколько” и за ним следует глагол во множественном числе:
A number of people were in the park. Несколько человек было в парке.
A number of houses were built last year in this area. Несколько домов было построено в прошлом году в этом районе.

The number of переводится — “количество” и за ним следует глагол в единственном числе:
The number of people, who came to the park, was enormous. Количество людей, пришедших в парк, было огромным.
The number of new houses in this area is growing. Количество новых домов в этом районе растет.

Упражнение 1. Вставьте a или the.

1. Statistics has ___ number of disadvantages.
2. What is ____ number of new patients today?
3. There are ___ number of funds that support women.
4. The Law reduces ___ number of taxes and duties to a very low level.
5. This solution has ___ number of disadvantages.
6. Complex approach is based on ___ number of factors.
7. Such an approach maximizes ___ number of happy customers
8. There are also ___ number of suggestions about how to recognize new trends

Ответы: Ex.1 1-a, 2- the, 3-a, 4-the, 5-a, 6-a, 7-the, 8- a

Упражнение 2. Выберите правильный вариант ответа.

1. A number of people was / were injured in the explosion.
2. If the number of people involved is/ are still not very high, we’ll not succeed.
3. There is / are still a number of places you could choose to go.
4. A number of sectors was / were rebuilt to use modern equipment.
5. The number of groups is/ are varied from one to four.

Ответы: Ex.2. 1-were, 2-is, 3-are, 4- were, 5-is