"Just because..." "...doesn't mean..."

Skyler · May 29, 2011

What's the proper structure for that?

"Just because I wear a T-shirt doesn't mean I'll get sunburned."

"Just because I wear a T-shirt, it doesn't mean I'll get sunburned."

This seems proper to me:

"The fact that I wear a T-shirt doesn't mean I'll get sunburned."

I'm not so sure about this one:

"It doesn't mean I'll get sunburned just because I wear a T-shirt."

I get most of my grammar from reading good literature. The fact that I don't see this construction very often may be a sign that I shouldn't use it. =)

Thoughts?

IceCreamEmpress · May 29, 2011

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/faculty.washington.edu/ebender/papers/bender_kathol01.pdf Here's a linguistics paper about the nature of that construction which has lots of examples. Of course, this may confuse you still further (I find linguistics papers generally confuse me).

The first three examples you give sound like currently idiomatic US English. The fourth example does not.

Skyler · May 30, 2011

Thanks ICE. Funny, I never would have thought to look for a linguistics paper on the subject. =)

I'll glance over it when I finish waking up.

Maryn · May 30, 2011

I'm no linguist, but it seems to me that the basic structure of the 'just because' sentence nearly always involves an understood subject it or that. While it's correct to put that word in (Just because my husband is short, that doesn't mean I only like short men. Just because I'm fat, it doesn't mean I eat candy.), it's also correct in casual narrative with a conversational tone, or in dialogue, to omit it. (Just because my husband is short doesn't mean I only like short men. Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I eat candy.)

To me, it's all about the tenor and tone of what you're writing. Lots of great literature is riddled with 'mistakes.'

Maryn, who just had to chime in, qualified or not

bowiefan1970 · May 30, 2011

I won't get sunburned, because I wore a t-shirt.

I wore a t-shirt so I won't get sunburned.

Skyler · May 30, 2011

So, basically, the first two sentences at least are valid grammatical constructions.

Thanks guys! Especially IceCreamEmpress.

"Just because..." "...doesn't mean..."

Skyler

Ninja kid, be gentle!

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Skyler

Ninja kid, be gentle!

Maryn

Baaa!

bowiefan1970

Skyler

Ninja kid, be gentle!