one troop

I translated some Greek this morning, including a tricky little phrase about a "bridge which ... guarded ... a number of strong soldiers." The verb 'guarded' was singular and active. So it wasn't passive, i.e. "the bridge was guarded by .." (which would have explained the singular form).

Nope, it was active. Somebody/someone was actively guarding. But the 'strong soldiers' were plural. ... Damn. I was stuck for a bit. Then, .. d'oh ... "a number (of)" is singular, like "a bunch, a gang, a troop," whatever.