Question

The dance crew, after performing for the crowd, wash the paint from their faces.

Which subject-verb agreement rule applies to this sentence?

Answer 1

When regarded as a unit, collective nouns and noun phrases denoting quantity uses singular verb.

However, that is not the case in the above sentence. "Crew'' may be a collective noun but the verb "wash" is in plural form because individuals of the dance crew are regarded separately, "their faces".