By using expressions like the fact that and the idea that we can avoid the awkwardness of beginning a sentence with that
The fact that his proposal makes sense should be recognized
The idea that everyone should be required to vote by law is
something I don t agree with
His proposal makes sense This should be recognized These expressions can be used after verbs such as to face
We must face the fact that we might lose our deposit
The fact that also follows prepositions and prepositional phrases [> App 20.3] like because of in view of on account of owing to due to in spite of despite and notwithstanding (formal)
His love of literature was due to the fact that his mother read poetry
to him when he was a child
In spite of/Despite the fact that hotel prices have risen sharply the
number of tourists is as great as ever
The complex sentence noun clauses
Noun clauses after adjectives describing feelings
Many adjectives describing personal feelings (e g afraid glad happy pleased sorry) or certainty (e g certain sure) can be followed bythat (optional) [> App 44] /' m afraid (that) we've sold out of tickets
1.23.5 Transferred negatives after verbs of thinking and feeling
After verbs li ke believe imagine suppose think, we can transfer the
negative from the verb to the that-clause without really changing the
meaning [compare 'contrasting negatives' > 16 14] So, for example,
these pairs of sentences have almost the same meaning
/ don't believe she II arrive before 7 I believe she won't arrive before 7 I don't suppose you can help us I suppose you can't help us