<em>The goal of explaining why the majority of Indians stayed in the colonies </em>is the goal the passage addresses.
" ....it offered a new life ..... the authorities began to make a new offer to Indian workers...." The indians could get a small plot of land , if they grew sugar there.
I'm not sure what the lesson is, but the answer that makes sense the most is number. Number because most lessons in subject-verb agreement concerns the singularity and plurality of the subject at hand
The injured man hobbled to the gate.
