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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1Note that the original sentence with out being a cleft sentence is the students wanted the teacher to declare, this may cause the confusion on using were or was, but when it comes to a cleft, you use was.– SchwaleJan 21, 2016 at 15:26
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1In the English West Country dialect, it would be "It were they students..."– ChenmunkaJan 21, 2016 at 15:49
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1Note that if you put "If" in front of the sentence, the correct answer to this question changes: "If it were the students..." and "It was the students..." are both correct. Common usage has pretty much made "If it was the students..." also accepted by pretty much everyone, but if you want to get as precise as possible, "were" is more correct when "if" is involved.– Todd WilcoxJan 21, 2016 at 18:03
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1 Answer
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."
