Which one is correct?

[jupiter]

Hi teachers,

Is A or B the correct answer? And why?

Like other fictional characters, Jack managed to find himself where........ of important events took plce.

A. An extraordinary number
B. there was an extraordinary number

Thanks in advance

Jupiter

[canadian45]

'A' is mostly correct if you say "place" but the sentence will be better if you say "...find himself in places where an extraordinary number of important events took place". Otherwise, the sentence can be interpreted to mean that all those important events happened in the same place.

The grammar of 'B' is not correct for the sentence.

[Yankee]

Hi Jupiter

A is correct. You could also reword the sentence to improve it. In my opinion adding "in places" would sound awkward in combination with "took place", however.

You could make B grammatical by changing 'was' to 'were' (to agree with the plural word 'events') AND then either adding 'that' or changing 'took' to 'taking':
- "... where there were an extraordinary number of important events that took place."
- "... where there were an extraordinary number of important events taking place."

But, I think this sentence ought to be further improved/reworded.

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English