The source is Man. Gmat 750 SC workshop slam homework problems

Some board game publishers have questioned the narrow nominee guidelines outlined by the Game of the Year committee because the pool of award nominees regularly push if not exceed the award guidelines. ( the underlined portion starts with regularly and ends with guidelines.)

A) regularly push is not exceed the award guidelines

B) push if not exceed the award guidelines regularly

C) were regularly pushed if not exceeded by the award guidelines

D) regularly pushes if not exceeds the award guidelines

E) pushes if not exceeds the regular award guidelines

The answer is D because " the pool" is singular -- I thought " the pool " would be plural -- like The English; The Americans;

How do you differentiate?

Thanks

Manju

Collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on context. Examples of collective nouns: group, class, crowd, jury, etc.

If the meaning of the sentence emphasizes the group of people/objects in unison, then it's a singular noun and requires singular verbs.
Example: The army has a strong presence in the region.

If the meaning emphasizes the many individual persons/objects separately, then it's a plural noun and requires plural verbs.
Example: After winning the award, the team called their parents to share the good news. (Notice "their" -- plural pronoun)

On the GMAT, singular collective nouns are much more common, so it's a good rule of thumb to pick singular. In the example you gave, it appears that all of the award nominees in the pool are acting as one, so a singular verb is better.

Thank you for the explanation

this is also a situation in which you should note that the gmat uses american english preferences.

in british commonwealth english usage, the vast majority of collective nouns - committee, agency, the public, etc. - are plural ("the public are unaware"), while those same collective nouns are singular in american usage.

as rey said, collective nouns do occasionally see plural usage in american english, but we have not yet seen a single instance of that usage in an official problem. therefore, if you're in doubt, go with the singular.