关于numbers的用法的总结和求助

udsifhi

先贴两道题：
OG verbal review 2ed edition - SC -6
A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian workforce.
(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase
答案D。解析说“The plural numbers means a large crowd or multitude, while the singular number refers to a specific quantity of individuals.”

Prep2012-Pack1-SC-064  VSC002625  hard
Although beavers can still be found throughout the western United States, their number has declined compared with the eighteenth century, when the abundance of beavers lured armies of European trappers into the Rocky Mountain region to slaughter them for their pelts.
A. their number has declined compared with
B. their numbers have declined compared with
C. their numbers have declined since
D. their numbers have declined in comparison to those of
E. the number of them declined since
答案C。解析说“The singular number is non-idiomatic and does not capture the reality that at different points between the eighteenth century and now, different numbers have described the beaver population in western U.S.”

然后，看了最新的第六版曼哈顿SC分册：
第70页：
If you wish to make a comparison using the word numbers, use greater than, not more than (which might imply that the quantity of numbers is larger, not the numbers themselves).
Right: The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its NUMBERS are now suspected to be much GREATER than before.
第233页idiom用例：
RIGHT: The grey oyster nearly vanished, but ITS NUMBERS have rebounded.
WRONG: THE NUMBERS OF dogs HAVE fallen. (这个句子和前面PREP 2012里的正确句子差不多啊)

感觉非常困惑。自己归纳了一下规律，1.只要带具体数的，就用number，不能用numbers;  2.the number of是固定结构，表示数量不能说the numbers of.
是这样吗？求大牛指教~~

udsifhi

ukyo2003

单个number用单数，多个number用numbers。
the number of 表示number接is，a number of 表示群体接are
给你看个例子
The numbers of women and minorities applying for scholarship have doubled. (the number of women, and the number of minorities have doubled，两个Number都double了 )

udsifhi

ukyo2003 发表于 2015-5-24 23:36
单个number用单数，多个number用numbers。
the number of 表示number接is，a number of 表示群体接are
给你 ...

你说的我明白。不过numbers可以指一个东西的数量的。我发的那几个用numbers的正确能例句就都是一个东西的数量啊

ukyo2003

除了曼哈顿的几个例子我不知道上下文，你举例都不是同一个东西的数量。

udsifhi

ukyo2003 发表于 2015-5-26 19:18
除了曼哈顿的几个例子我不知道上下文，你举例都不是同一个东西的数量。

曼哈顿没有上下文例句就这么短，Montauk beaked griffin，grey oyster，都是同一样东西好吗。prep里their numbers 就是beavers' numbers, 也没有两个东西，划线部分改成 “the number of them has declined since”的话，用单数number也没错吧，用法与OG上的那句就一样啊

ukyo2003

udsifhi 发表于 2015-5-26 22:28
曼哈顿没有上下文例句就这么短，Montauk beaked griffin，grey oyster，都是同一样东西好吗。prep里their ...

曼哈顿没有上下文我也没看过这个例子,不好评论.
OG中的都不是指同一个东西的数量,有貌似同一个事物,但是over time是不同批次的事物的数量，所以用numbers

udsifhi

ukyo2003 发表于 2015-5-28 18:44
曼哈顿没有上下文我也没看过这个例子,不好评论.
OG中的都不是指同一个东西的数量,有貌似同一个事物,但是o ...

第一题不也是over time吗但是用的单数。单独看各题的解释我都觉得有道理，但是放在一起就感觉矛盾

ukyo2003

udsifhi 发表于 2015-5-28 18:58
第一题不也是over time吗但是用的单数。单独看各题的解释我都觉得有道理，但是放在一起就感觉矛盾 ...

这里我只讨论OG和Prep的题，不知道你有没有仔细看题

第一题：number of women increased in the past decade (同一代人，same people's number)

第二题：their numbers have declined since 18th century (definitely several generations' of beavers, each generation has their own separate number)

udsifhi

ukyo2003 发表于 2015-5-28 21:09
这里我只讨论OG和Prep的题，不知道你有没有仔细看题

第一题：number of women increased in the past de ...

第二题改成：Although beavers can still be found throughout the western United States, the number of them has declined since the 18th century...这样用单数不行吗？
第一题也看不出来是不是同一代人吧，把10年前改成50年前答案就变了？