the + PREMODIFIER + NOUN + is – English Grammar Profiler
Looking at the Longman dictionary:
the (only) problem is (that) …
used before saying what the main difficulty in a situation is
Here is an example of a sentence starting with
THE + adjective + NOUN followed by the verb BE + a noun phrase complement:
The main problem is
the internal bleeding.
listen
We use a full stop to make sure our FOCUS structure is at the start of the sentence for iWeb:
. The _JJ thing|fact|point|problem|reason *
1 . THE ONLY THING I 20510
The only thing I can do is have you stay here until the check clears.
listen
2 THE ONLY THING THAT 19898
The only thing that I do not like so much is that
I do not drive and I live far from everything,
so I have to use the public transportation to move around.
PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: Spanish Female level 4 grammar class.
3 . THE ONLY PROBLEM IS 10014
4 . THE GREAT THING ABOUT 7489 This is even more complex with the added prepositional phrase:
The great thing
( about life on the street )
is
you know how it‘s gonna be.
Deep Cover
5 . THE IMPORTANT THING IS 6871 6 . THE BEST THING ABOUT 5459 7 . THE ONLY THING YOU 5054 8 . THE BEST THING TO 4209 9 . THE ONLY THING IS 3794 10 . THE ONLY PROBLEM I 3679 11 . THE GOOD THING IS 3658 12 . THE FUNNY THING IS 3436 13 . THE NICE THING ABOUT 3257 14 . THE WHOLE POINT OF 3206 15 . THE GOOD THING ABOUT 3085 16 . THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH 3060 17 . THE MAIN THING IS 2603 18 . THE ONLY THING WE 2552 19 . THE IMPORTANT THING TO 2437 20 . THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS 2366 21 . THE OTHER THING IS 2329 22 . THE WHOLE THING IS 2325 23 . THE BEST THING IS 2267 24 . THE BEST THING YOU 2243 25 . THE OTHER THING THAT 1818 26 . THE GREAT THING IS 1657 27 . THE ONLY THING TO 1560 28 . THE OTHER THING I 1543 29 . THE MAIN PROBLEM IS 1520
30 . THE ONLY THING MISSING 1449
31 . THE ONLY THING THEY 1425
PELIC B2 Student:
The only thing they want is to see that their children get the good education they have always wanted but couldn’t get.
Turkish, Male, level 4, writing class
32 . THE VERY FACT THAT 1359
The very fact that you‘re sitting here with us proves that it was preordained.
listen
33 . THE SAD THING IS 1317 34 . THE REAL PROBLEM IS 1315 35 . THE WHOLE THING WAS 1273 36 . THE INTERESTING THING IS 1230 37 . THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH 1221 38 . THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS 1219 39 . THE SIMPLE FACT IS 1144 40 . THE MAIN THING TO 1142 41 . THE COOL THING ABOUT 1106 42 . THE ONLY THING HE 1102 43 . THE ONLY THING LEFT 1051 44 . THE NICE THING IS 1022 45 . THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH 1015 46 . THE OTHER PROBLEM IS 978 47 . THE ONLY THING IT 968 48 . THE MERE FACT THAT 952 49 . THE WORST THING YOU 907 50 . THE ONLY THING THE 886 51 . THE INTERESTING THING ABOUT 880 52 . THE STRANGE THING IS 851 53 . THE OTHER THING TO 837 54 . THE WEIRD THING IS 828 55 . THE BEST THING I 788 56 . THE COOL THING IS 777 57 . THE MAIN THING THAT 764 58 . THE MAIN POINT IS 723 59 . THE MAIN THING I 723 60 . THE WHOLE POINT IS 717 61 . THE KEY POINT IS 690 62 . THE WORST THING IS 687 63 . THE MAIN POINT OF 676 64 . THE WORST THING THAT 674 65 . THE KEY THING IS 629 66 . THE BEST THING THAT 628 67 . THE IMPORTANT POINT IS 627 68 . THE BAD THING IS 614 69 . THE FOCAL POINT OF 585 70 . THE BEST THING FOR 544 71 . THE AMAZING THING IS 540 72 . THE KEY THING TO 540 73 . THE OTHER THING YOU 532 74 . THE BIG PROBLEM IS 518 75 . THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I 515 76 . THE ODD THING IS 506 77 . THE ONLY THING SHE 494 78 . THE ONLY PROBLEM THAT 486 79 . THE EASIEST THING TO 482 80 . THE FUNNY THING ABOUT 479 81 . THE ONLY PROBLEM ? 474 82 . THE BIGGEST THING IS 460 83 . THE CLOSEST THING TO 454 84 . THE WONDERFUL THING ABOUT 435 85 . THE WORST THING ABOUT 433 86 . THE CRAZY THING IS 421 87 . THE SAD FACT IS 409 88 . THE ONLY THING WORSE 405 89 . THE ONLY THING ABOUT 404 90 . THE IMPORTANT THING HERE 391 91 . THE BIGGEST THING I 386 92 . THE ONLY THING WAS 385 93 . THE SIMPLE FACT THAT 381 94 . THE ONLY PROBLEM WE 379 95 . THE AMAZING THING ABOUT 371 96 . THE BIG THING IS 358 97 . THE MAIN THING YOU 356 98 . THE ONLY THING WHICH 351 99 . THE ONLY THING BETTER 347
100 . THE ONLY THING THATS 346
1586, dm4, Chinese Fem, 3, w, 110 158,1,281
The final thing that contributed to my success was I practiced many times.
*The above example is repeated by many students with a different topic added in. There are hundreds of examples in the whole PELIC corpus where the structure is not so much about focus. Most function as complex transition signals.
206,gl6,Arabic,Male,116,4,w,27,1,205
The second thing that makes you a successful player is to practice these skills that I mention before in this paper.
572,az4,Arabic,Female,117,5,w,48,1,435
The last thing is that the student will benefit from this way of grading by knowing how to talk in front of others without difficulty.
3427,fl6,Arabic,Male,173,4,w,403,1,374
The one thing that kept him from doing that was that he thought about his future and how he’d be a success after he graduated.