The phrase "a sobering fact" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when presenting a piece of information that is serious or thought-provoking, often highlighting a difficult reality.
Example: "The rising rates of homelessness in our city is a sobering fact that we cannot ignore."
Alternatives: "a harsh reality" or "a stark truth".
VISITORS to Zambia who are pushing 40 face a sobering fact.
As the administration weighs its options, it faces a sobering fact: The United States has little influence over Damascus.
For this sample, some 12 percent of all couples were divorced during this period — a sobering fact about the stability of marriages in general.
(A sobering fact for the anti-choice organizations in the US who continue to insist that if abortion were illegal, women who got them wouldn't be criminalized).
So it is a sobering fact of modern life that while in some countries food is scarce, according to current estimates other countries collectively waste 1.3bn tonnes of food, worth about $1tn£616bnbn) each year.
A sobering fact of modern medicine is that despite the widespread use of imaging tests like M.R.I. and C.T. scans, autopsies show that doctors often miss important information in all kinds of cases.
To listen to some of the tributes paid over the past couple of days, you might think that Bowie had spent most of his earthly span in a jumpsuit of many colors, or in other varieties of extraterrestrial garb, whereas the sobering fact is that the Ziggy Stardust tour lasted a mere eighteen months.
Sobering fact: Years of heavy drinking have a less negative effect on women, compared to men.
The sobering fact in relation to the Umbrella Movement is that a generation of young people in Hong Kong is increasingly politicised and alienated from China.
Daniel then told us the other sobering fact he had learned outside.
Too often, our judgment as physicians is tempered by this sobering fact.
