关于the numbers 是否可用的疑问求解答

soulmise

在08prep中看到一道题是这样的
In Scotland, the number of wild salmon have been reduced because of uncontrolled deep-sea and coastal netting, by pollution, and by various other threats to the fish's habitat
A.number of wild salmon have been reduced because of uncontrolled deep-sea and coastal netting,
B.number of wild salmon is reduced because deep-sea and coastal netting is not controlled,
C.numbers of wild salmon has been reduced because of uncontrolled deep-sea and coastal netting,
D.wild salmon's numbers are reduced by deep-sea and coastal netting that is not  controlled,
E.wild salmon's numbers have been reduced by uncontrolled deep-sea and coastal netting,
答案是E,然后在C项的解释中，说the numbers 错误（MANHATTAN SC 上提到：Never select an answer choice containing the phrase THE NUMBERS OF）
但在后面关于number的用法中又说道，
the number（s） of+名词单数或者复数+动词单数或者复数，表示标号，数字标识
这是number是核心词，number、物品、谓语动词的三者的单/复数形式要一致
The numbers of the machine parts A and B are respectively 201 and 203.
机器零件A和B的标号分别是201和203

所以想问问大家，the numbers到底能不能用，能用的话什么情况是可以用的

echomaotw

The numbers of the machine parts A and B are respectively 201 and 203.机器零件A和B的标号分别是201和203，这里是指数字，是可数的

THE NUMBER OF 是指数量 不能加S

yeye523

意思就是看文章的context，如果表示的是确切的数字标号one number, two numbers, the numbers是可以用的；其他情况下the numbers不可用，但是its numbers这种形式可用。