Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner1]

Hello,

I wonder if 'in fact', 'the fact is that', 'the truth is that' and 'actually' have the same meaning sometimes? Could we use 'the fact is that', 'the truth is that' or 'actually' instead of 'in fact' here?
For example:
1.He doesn't mind. In fact, he is very pleased.
2.He looks mean; but in fact, he is easy to get along with.
3.A:I suppose you haven't finished that report yet?
B:I finished it yesterday, in fact.

Thank you very much.

[bud]

Yes for #1 and #2. You can only use "actually" as a substitute in #3B because of the grammar. Or alternatively:

Yes, in fact I finished it yesterday.

Then you could use all three as substitutes.

[learner1]

Hello bud,

Thank you so much for your great help. The following sentence is from my dictionary.

'She didn't answer my letter. The fact is she didn't even read it.'

1.Could we use 'in fact', 'the truth is' or 'actually' instead of 'the fact is' here?

2.According to the dictionary,
'the fact is' means
'the fact (of the matter) is spoken used when you are telling someone what is actually true in a particular situation, especially when this may be difficult to accept, or different from what people believe.'

But 'in fact' means
a) used when you are adding something, especially something surprising, to emphasize what you have just said.
b) used to emphasize that the truth about a situation is the opposite of what has been mentioned.

I am confused why the two idioms have different meanings but they can be interchangeable? Therefore, I am not sure if there is any difference between them. What is your opinion on this?

Thank you very much.

[bud]

Hmm... look at the definitions really closely. Are they really very much different? And then let's look at your first sentence again:

1.He doesn't mind. In fact, he is very pleased.

Explanation using definition for "in fact" - We are emphasizing that he isn't upset at all; he's very pleased as a matter of fact. And the sense of the sentence is that that is surprising to the listeners - it is the opposite of what they thought (or expected).

Explanation using definition for "the fact is" - The sense of the sentence is that the listeners believe that he is upset. We are telling them that, no, he's not upset. His attitude is different from what you believe. He's actually very pleased.

Are the explanations really different?

[learner1]

Hello bud,

Thank you very much for your reply.
I think what you said makes sense. However, I see it differently.

'He doesn't mind. In fact, he is very pleased.'

In my opinion, the sentence expresss that he certainly doesn't mind because he is very pleased and we are adding something here like 'he is very pleased' to emphasize and support what you have just said like 'he doesn't mind'. And that doesn't express what is different from what people believe.

Here is another example:
'I know her really well. In fact, we were in the same class in college.'
I think the sentence express the same sense what I mentioned here.
Does it sound right to use 'the fact is' in these examples above?

Thank you very much.

[bud]

Ah, that's an excellent analysis, Learner1! It didn't even occur to me that the listeners might not have any preconceived notions at all about how "he" felt.

Still, it doesn't sound wrong to me to substitute "the fact is" for "in fact" in either of those sentences. To me, they both serve solely to emphasize what follows.

Are there other opinions out there on this?

[learner1]

Hello bud,

Thank you very much for letting me know what you think about this. And thank you for your precious comment which relly helps me a lot.
You have been so helpful!

[bud]

Thank you, Learner1!