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According to the Elements of Style, Rule 17, "the fact that" should be edited out of every sentence.

Here's one I'm working on: "The fact that standard software cannot fit it highlights a crucial computational bottleneck."

I can rewrite it as "Standard software's inability to fit it highlights a crucial computational bottleneck.", but the word "inability" feels awkward to me.

Any other suggestions?

Araucaria - Him
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Xward
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    The sentence "The fact that standard software cannot fit it highlights a crucial computational bottleneck" isn't very comprehensible: what does "fit" refer to? Size? Compatibility? Having the wrong function? I'd paraphrase as something like: "Standard software cannot (something), which highlights a crucial computational bottleneck." – Stuart F Sep 08 '23 at 15:38
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    "Standard software's inability..." is fine. If you don't like it, you can go with "That standard software cannot fit..." If you don't like that, you can keep "The fact that..." Rules can be broken for clarity, including Strunk's and White's. – Maverick Sep 08 '23 at 15:49
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    @StuartF Presumably the antecedent of "it" was in the sentences leading up to this, and in that context it should be clearer. – Barmar Sep 08 '23 at 20:34
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    My suggestion is you forget about this silly "rule." – Casey Sep 09 '23 at 03:24
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    I would change you mind about your use of the word 'inability'. You have edited out "the fact that" and replaced it appropriately. The rule itself, though, looks arbitrary to me, along with things I was pestered about by teachers in school: "never use 'almost' with 'unique' (things are either unique or not)"; "never start a sentence with 'But'"; and so on. – Tuffy Sep 09 '23 at 15:27
  • to fit what?? You don't say. – Lambie Sep 09 '23 at 15:45
  • The rewrite sounds fine to me. Inability is an everyday word. – Kaz Sep 09 '23 at 16:29
  • That standard software cannot fit, highlights a crucial computational bottleneck. - No 'it'; comma... maybe. Standard software's memory space requirements highlight a crucial computational bottleneck. (inability to fit what? again, no it). – Mazura Sep 09 '23 at 17:46
  • Strunk and White tend to state all their rules categorically: never do this; always do that. Many of the guidelines are helpful if you instead read them as suggestions: these phrases often lead to bad writing, so when you use them, check to see if there's a way to rewrite more clearly. – Misha Lavrov Sep 09 '23 at 20:17
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    @MishaLavrov I must disagree. Unfortunately, after stating them, they then often go on to hedge their bets: "*This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary" <-- So, in other words it's not a rule. And you often can't skewer S&W with the fact they completely disregard one of their rules, precisely because of this insidious hedge. But more importantly, The rules are NOT helpful as guidelines.* – Araucaria - Him Sep 09 '23 at 23:04
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    Hmmmm. This (namely, referencing flunk and gripe) works in terms of exponentially increasing the number of views and also making it onto HNQ list. I shall try this again to make sure. – Araucaria - Him Sep 09 '23 at 23:48
  • Though it might sound a bit old fashioned, you could omit "The fact" and just write "That standard software cannot fit it...." Most of the other ideas offered here are better. – Adrian McCarthy Sep 10 '23 at 23:33

2 Answers2

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First, and most important, don't believe anything you might read in Strunk and White. They're full of it. Some of it is harmless -- "Omit Needless Words". OK, go ahead. But that's about all they get right, and it's not such a novel discovery.

Second, while use of the fact that is probably more common than it ought to be -- especially if you notice it; that's a sign of overuse in writing, because it's intended as an invisible (except when missing, like to or it) marker of a certain type of clause -- there are plenty of situations where it's necessary. So you can't just "edit it out". As usual, S&W were just indulging in peevery, the standard American response to details that are not mathematical.

Third, the situations where one can use the fact that (instead of simply that) are in using NP Complement constructions (the ones like

  • the rumor [that Gumby is gay]
  • a report [that the volcano exploded])

which describe the "content" of the noun they modify, usually a picture noun like story. Not all nouns can take NP complements, however, since not all nouns denote information with "content"; fact is one, however, so the fact that .. is an NP complement construction that can be used as a noun phrase anywhere, in places where a that-clause couldn't.

BUT with one small feature - the that-clause has to be true; that's what the fact adds. If you use this, its truth is publicly vouched for by you (the speaker or writer); i.e, you're responsible, where you wouldn't be if you hadn't used the fact.

John Lawler
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  • Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. – Laurel Sep 16 '23 at 01:52
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A change in the English language during the 1800s made the phrase the fact that necessary in certain grammatical situations. You should use it in these situations, although it's probably better to avoid it when it's unnecessary.

One can see from Google Ngrams that this phrase was hardly ever used before 1800, and that its use increased steadily throughout the 19th century, peaking around 1920 (roughly when Strunk wrote the book, so possibly his advice had some effect).

Strunk originally wrote the book in 1918, and he was born in 1869. Thus, over his lifetime, he saw the phrase "the fact that" receive more and more use; I assume that he perceived this phrase as ugly, and that this increase in its use bothered him. Today, since it's become so common, I believe that hardly anybody is bothered by this phrase today.

In 1846, one could write

He was an Irishman by affection as well as by the accident of birth, and despite that he was born and bred amongst the aristocracy, had a heart for his country

Today, we would either need to write

and despite the fact that he was born and bred amongst the aristocracy, he had a heart for his country

or rephrase the sentence substantially.

Similarly, in 1878, Anthony Trollope could write

I did not like that you should be in London without my seeing you.

Again, today you would need to insert "the fact that" before "you should" or rewrite the sentence.

Thus, my recommendation is that you leave the sentence as is.

One thing to note: the fact that we now use "the fact that" so often means that people sometimes tend to use it when it's not needed at all. In these cases, you should delete it, as it's redundant. For example, to use an example from Strunk and White,

I was unaware of the fact that ...

should be replaced by

I was unaware that ...

unless you have a good reason for emphasizing that the thing you were unaware of is a fact.

Peter Shor
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  • and despite the fact that he was born and bred amongst the aristocracy, he had a heart for his country= and despite being born and bred amongst the aristocracy, he had a heart for his country – Lambie Sep 09 '23 at 15:47
  • Thanks for the historical perspective. It helped me understand where the rule came from. – Xward Sep 09 '23 at 16:28
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    "Despite that he was born" sounds fine to me, and of course there is "despite being born". – Kaz Sep 09 '23 at 20:43
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    "despite that" can simply be replaced with "although". Problem solved! – TonyK Sep 09 '23 at 21:47
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    I've downvoted this because of the claim that "I was unaware of the fact that" is equivalent in meaning - and also inferior to - "unaware that" and that the latter should replace the former. The former implies clearly that the truth of the proposition counts for something in some important way. The latter just describes your ignorance. Never the twain shall meet. – Araucaria - Him Sep 09 '23 at 23:13
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    Yes, good answer. In short, the author did indeed mean the you would just delete it. That it no longer works in many contexts is a good reason not to idealize one century-old style guide... even if that last sentence owes much to it :) – Luke Sawczak Sep 10 '23 at 05:22
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    I still consider the 1846 example grammatical, although I would prefer the phrasing adding the words the fact. – Karl Knechtel Sep 10 '23 at 05:34
  • @KarlKnechtel I don't think it is outright incorrect but, being honest, I'd probably trip over that sentence and have to re-read it, and I'd be very unlikely to phrase it that way in all but the most carefully prepared writing. – Casey Sep 10 '23 at 06:04
  • "the fact that" is often found in real speech even if not in writing. Around here, the distinction between writing and speaking is often overlooked... – Lambie Sep 10 '23 at 17:03