The number of people invited ______ fifty, but a number of them ____ absent for different reasons. 

–Where _______ the socks?   --_______ on the bed.

The number of foreign students attending Chinese universities ______ rising steadily since 1990.

A few of the young trees in Tangsa can be cut each year for firewood.The rest ________ to grow even taller.

He said that what Mary had bought from the supermarket that morning ________ only a     few potatoes, eggs and salt, but I don’t think what he said ________ true.