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Methinks the sentence does not sound natural. I also think that there should be confirms instead of confirm (source):

That the messages are written in simplified Chinese—Hong Kongers use traditional Chinese—confirm that the intended audience is Chinese tourists.

I would rewrite it by changing the word order:

That the messages are written in simplified Chinese—Hong Kongers use traditional Chinese—confirms that Chinese tourists are the intended audience.

Other than confirm, is the original sentence correct with regards to the word order? Does the rewritten sentence sound more natural to you?Is it correct? If not, how would you rewrite it?

John Smith
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    The audience is singular, and so takes is. – Peter Shor Aug 10 '19 at 21:24
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    In the UK, audience could be considered plural. (But rarely in the US.) So, it depends. – Jason Bassford Aug 10 '19 at 21:41
  • @sumelic isnt are incorrect because for this type of NP it follows a singular verb? Like you said in this answer – aesking Aug 11 '19 at 02:51
  • But it's grammatical on whether audience is considered plural...interesting. – aesking Aug 11 '19 at 02:57
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    @Peter Shor I won't counter with 'The audience here is obviously intended to be an accepted shorthand for the members of the audience, and so takes are' because then, like you, I'd be violating the Gricean Maxim of Quantity. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 11 '19 at 13:41
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    I'd question confirm's correctness. – Lucian Sava Aug 11 '19 at 16:11
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    @aesking: My answer there doesn't say anything about this sentence. Behaviour and audience are different nouns. I didn't talk about a general "type of NP" in my linked answer, only about NPs headed by the specific noun behaviour. As Edwin and Jason said in their comments, NPs headed by the noun audience might be able to take plural agreement (as a form of "notional agreement"). By the way, you can't use @ to notify someone who hasn't posted or commented above you in the same thread. I only saw your comment because this question came up in review. – herisson Aug 11 '19 at 16:16

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