I happened to hear and read the expression “to be fair” multiple times in a single afternoon recently, so that inspired me to write a short email today about it.
Remember that, even though fixed expressions are fixed phrases with specific meanings that have to be learned and used as they are, they are still structurally and functionally parts of sentences, and, as such, we have to understand their structural and functional roles systematically in order to express meaning with them accurately.
The expression “to be fair” expresses the meaning of “if I am being fair (about the situation that I am talking about or going to talk about)” -- it is an expression that helps to make a statement more balanced or less one-sided.
Usually, we add it to what we are saying/writing after making a negative or critical comment about the topic or situation to acknowledge that there is objectively another side to it, and that it would be “unfair” to see the situation as all bad.
A simple example:
The restaurant was really expensive, but, to be fair, the food was excellent.
這間餐廳真的很貴，但公平一點講，食物真的非常好。
In this context, the speaker first makes the negative comment that “the restaurant was really expensive” -- by then adding “to be fair” in the next part of the sentence, he/she “balances out” the comment a bit by acknowledging that the food was actually very good, so there is a “reason” for it to be “expensive,” even though the main comment is a negative one about the price.
“To be fair” is an expression that allows us to “signal” that we are trying to give a “fairer” or more “balanced” view of a situation even though our main comment is negative or critical.
In a conversation, it can also be that one person says something negative about a situation, and the other person introduces something more “balanced” or contrary to that negative opinion with “to be fair.” For example:
A: The restaurant was so expensive.
B: To be fair, though, the food was excellent.
The meaning expressed by “to be fair” is the same -- it allows us to introduce a more “balanced” view to a negative comment, even when it is one from another person.
So, what is the structural and functional role of the expression “to be fair” in a sentence?
If you have taken our foundational course, you would know that it is a type of modifier phrase called an infinitive phrase -- a phrase that starts with an infinitive form of a verb (like “be” here) marked by the marker “to” and plays the role of a modifier (adverb or adjective) in a sentence.
For example:
To be fair, the food was excellent.
In this one-clause sentence, the infinitive phrase “to be fair” is playing the role of an adverb phrase modifying the core action of the entire clause, that is, “the food was excellent” -- adding a “balancing” qualification to the entire action of this clause.
As an adverb phrase modifying the whole clause, “to be fair” would originally be at the end of the clause. However, as you know from “Core Concepts of English” and elsewhere in my teaching, adverb phrases modifying the whole clause also have the flexibility to move forward to other positions in the clause -- most often to the “topicalized” position at the front.
Because “to be fair” “qualifies” a criticism, it is more often than not “topicalized” to the front of the clause it is modifying -- so that the speaker can “signal” to the listener right from the start that he/she is about to say something more balanced to soften the negative comment.
Recall that infinitive phrases as modifiers (unless they are required by specific verbs) express the meaning of “intended actions” or “actions not yet done,” so, if you apply this understanding to “to be fair,” you can see why it means “if we are going to be fair/if we want to be fair.”
One interesting thing to note is that the “doer” of the action in an infinitive phrase modifier is usually the subject of the entire clause (although it can also be the object or a noun specifically added within the infinitive phrase as well).
For example:
I went to the conference to learn more. /
To learn more, I went to the conference.
（我）為了學更多東西，我參加了那個研討會。
In this clause, the “doer” of the action in the infinitive phrase “to learn more” is implied to be the subject of the entire clause, “I,” also.
However:
To be fair, the food was excellent.
公平一點講，食物真的非常好。
Because “to be fair” is a fixed expression with its fixed meaning of “balancing” a negative comment, it is understood that the implied “doer” of the action in “to be fair” is the speaker rather than the subject or other elements in the clause it is modifying -- here, clearly, the “person being fair” is the speaker.
Once you understand both the structural role and specific meaning of a fixed expression, you can start to use it to express meaning accurately in your own sentences -- but this is just the first step. Going a step further, you can start to contextualize these fixed expressions even more to suit your specific tone, emphasis, and meaning more precisely in a specific context.
This is especially an important skill if you want to bring your writing to the next level.
For example:
We paid an almost unreasonable amount of money for this meal, but, to be fair to the restaurant, the food and service were both excellent.
我們這一餐付了幾乎不合理地多的錢，但公平一點評價這間餐廳的話，食物和服務都非常好。
Here, we have aptly added an additional prepositional phrase “to the restaurant” in the fixed expression “to be fair” to contextualize the comment about the restaurant’s price, food, and service even more.
In the new course “10 Practical Writing Tips,” we go further into this kind of writing choice: how to take the structural understanding from “Core Concepts of English” and apply it to actual writing so that you can choose, adjust, and contextualize English expressions more accurately in your own sentences.
You can learn more about “10 Practical Writing Tips” at the link below.
