I have come across the following sentence: 'There were one or two people I didn't know' in "Oxford Word Skills (Intermediate). I take it that the word 'person' is implied after the word 'one' which makes me come to the conclusion that I should choose was instead of were here.
I know the rule which goes as follows: the form of the verb in 'there is/there are' depends on the form (singular or plural) of the first noun which comes after the construction, as in There is a cat and her kittens in the basket.
Could you explain the choice of the verb in the example from the coursebook and refer me to a reliable source where I could read about this?