[Grammar] being the fact

[jigneshbharati]

I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
This is the definition for the idiom from Cambridge Dictionary. What is the grammatical function of " being the fact" here ?and what part of speech does it belong to?

 

[Roman55]

'Being' is a present participle.

'Being the fact' is a wordy way of saying 'is'.

'...the only fly in the ointment is that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law'.

 

[Raymott]

Using 'is' introduces a comma splice - probably the reason for "being the fact".
"... being that I'll have to sit ..." is also correct

 

[c2k5]

Using 'is' introduces a comma splice - probably the reason for "being the fact".
"... being that I'll have to sit ..." is also correct

Is 'the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.' a phrase?

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.

This is the definition for the idiom "fly in the ointment" from Cambridge Dictionary. What is the grammatical function of "being the fact" here? and What part of speech does it belong to?

Note my corrections above. Take care with your spacing around punctuation.

Is 'the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law no full stop here' a phrase?

Are you asking us if it's a set phrase, or if the complete string of words make up a phrase (in grammatical terminology)?

 

[c2k5]

Are you asking us if it's a set phrase, or if the complete string of words make up a phrase (in grammatical terminology)?

I mean in grammatical terminology.
#1 I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
#2 I'm looking forward to Sunday, but the only fly in the ointment is the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
#3 I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment is the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.

Is my understanding correct?
#1 is a simple sentence; 'I'm looking forward to Sunday' is the independent clause, and 'the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.' is a phrase.
#2 is a compound sentence; 'I'm looking forward to Sunday' is the independent clause, and 'but the only fly in the ointment is the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.' is the dependent clause.
#3 is wrong.

Is #1 weirder than #2?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know about weirdness, but I hadn't seen that expression in decades. I might say:

I'm looking forward to Sunday, but I'll be sitting next to my mother-in-law. Oh well!

(I hope that helps.)

 

[jutfrank]

Is #1 weirder than #2?

What do you mean?

 

[c2k5]

What do you mean?

I mean as a non English-native speaker, when I read #1, I feel the using of 'being' is very weird; when I read #2, I feel it's much easy to understand; and #3 is grammatically wrong. Is this correct?

#1 I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
#2 I'm looking forward to Sunday, but the only fly in the ointment is the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
#3 I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment is the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.

 

[Tarheel]

The one you categorize as weird is probably the most natural. As for number three, that has a comma splice, but in speech such things don't exist.

 

[jutfrank]

Sentence #1 isn't weird in any way to a native speaker, of course. It's obviously that this particular structure is unfamiliar to you.

Yes, you're right that #3 is wrong, since it contains a comma splice. Grammatically, that means it consists of two sentences, not one. Sentence #1 is how you get those two sentences to work together in a grammatically correct way.