Consider:
It were or was the students who wanted the teacher to declare
Is there a way to identify when a collective noun will take a singular verb and when it will take a plural verb?
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It were or was the students who wanted the teacher to declare
Is there a way to identify when a collective noun will take a singular verb and when it will take a plural verb?
The singular subject "It" takes the singular verb "was." Thus,
"It was the students who wanted the teacher to declare."
If the subject was "the students," then it would take a plural verb; e. g.,
"The students were hoping the teacher would declare it was time to play."