the fact (that) . . .

    • jbening

    jbening

    Senior Member
    American English
    No. "The fact" could be omitted, but not "that".

    Merriam-Webster describes "that", as it is used in your sentence, as a conjunction:

    "used as a function word to introduce a noun clause that is usually the subject or object of a verb or a predicate nominative // said that he was afraid"
     
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    R

    raymondaliasapollyon

    Senior Member
    Chinese
    jbening said:
    No. "The fact" could be omitted, but not "that".

    Merriam-Webster describes "that", as it is used in your sentence, as a conjunction:

    "used as a function word to introduce a noun clause that is usually the subject or object of a verb or a predicate nominative // said that he was afraid"
    Click to expand...

    Interesting. In the following sentence, however, "that" can be omitted:

    Hope rose (that) Sunday salvage efforts would free a mammoth container ship blocking the Suez Canal for six days, crippling international trade and causing losses worth millions of dollars.
     
    jbening

    jbening

    Senior Member
    American English
    Again, I wouldn't omit "that" there, but I would put it after "Sunday", unless "Sunday salvage efforts" are a particular kind of salvage effort. Did a journalist write the sentence without "that"? That wouldn't shock me, but in that case I'd say that "that" is still understood, and not having it explicitly there makes the sentence harder to understand.
     
    entangledbank

    entangledbank

    Senior Member
    London
    English - South-East England
    'That' sometimes is omitted after 'the fact', but I usually find it sounds bad - not completely wrong, but it would definitely be better with it.
     
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