Q. Is the verb number correct in the following sentence? (I believe that are should be changed to is, but my French coeditor disagrees.) “A case in point are the representatives associated with the 1977 exhibition in New York.” Many thanks!
A. You’re right: the subject of the sentence, case, is singular. Nonetheless, when one out of two editors thinks a construction is wrong, it’s begging for a rewrite—lest half your readers also think it’s wrong. You can switch subject and complement easily: The representatives . . . are a case in point.