Question

A number of people_____present at the function.(was/were)

Answer 1

Answer:

were is the answer.

Explanation:

Although the expression ‘a number’ is strictly singular, the phrase ‘a number of’' is used with plural nouns (as what grammarians call a determiner (or determiner)). The verb should therefore be plural:

for example,

A number of people were waiting for the bus.

This is not the case with ‘the number’, which is still singular: