[Grammar] The fact you had been taught it doesn't mean you had been learning it

[Sneymarin]

Hello, I was chatting in a Discord server when someone wrote this sentence:
"The fact you had been taught it doesn't mean you had been learning it"
"It" in both cases refers to "Chinese" as we were talking about languages.
Someone tried to correct that sentence and said that it should have a comma after the first "it" for the sentence to be grammatically correct. That is, "The fact you had been taught it, doesn't mean you had been learning it"
I think that the original sentence is correct as it is, without the comma, but I would like to hear your opinions on this and why you think it's correct/incorrect.

Thank you for your time

 

[Sneymarin]

The comma would be incorrect. We cannot separate a subject from its verb by a single comma.

The subject in this case is "The fact you have been learning it", am I right?

 

[Sneymarin]

:shock: I actually meant "The fact you had been taught it". I don't know how I let that mistake slip. I must be getting old.

 

[jutfrank]

Piscean is right of course that we don't separate subjects from their verbs.

However, I do think your friend has a good point. The first three times I read your sentence, I parsed the first it as the subject of doesn't mean rather than as the object of taught. I'm sure that's what he did too. The comma would have prevented such a misreading.

 

[Tarheel]

You didn't ask for my opinion, but I don't like either sentence. Instead, try:

The fact that you were taught it doesn't mean you learned it.

Thank you for your time.

Hm.

 

[TheParser]

"The fact you had been taught it doesn't mean you had been learning it"

NOT A TEACHER

Hello,

1. Let's replace the deleted "that": "The fact that you had been taught it doesn't mean you had been learning it."

a. "That you had been taught it" is not an adjective clause; it is a noun clause in apposition with the noun "fact."

i. We know this because "that" is not a relative pronoun in that sentence. "That" does not replace a subject or object. It introduces the clause and can be deleted. "The facts that were presented proved his innocence." The word "that" replaces "The facts." So it is a relative pronoun.)


2. Therefore, the actual sentence (without the noun clause) is: "The fact doesn't mean [that] you had been learning it."

a. As you can see, there is no reason for a comma after the first "it." The subject is "The fact" and the predicate is "doesn't mean [that] you had been learning it."

*****

Mona: It is a fact that I was taught Chinese.

Raul: That is very nice. But that fact doesn't mean that you actually learned it.

P.S. I wish to give credit to Professor Paul Roberts in his 1954 book entitled Understanding Grammar. On pages 312-313, he explains the difference between an adjective clause and a noun clause in apposition. He also feels that if one wants to parse the latter as an adjective clause, the "matter is of small importance."