核心问题
We are less credulous than we used to be. In the nineteenth century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences—most of them wildly improbable. (New Concept English, Book3, L. 36)
most of them 之后是否省略了 were? 这里没有谓语呀! 我查了《新概念英语》的所有辅导材料, 均未对此进行分析。
词典解答
上面的句子里并没有省略谓语 were。上面的结构叫做带逻辑主语(most of them)的形容词(improbable)独立结构,与带逻辑主语的分词结构具有相同的语法特征,见 absolute construction ,nominative absolute past participle construction,nominative absolute present participle construction。