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I sometimes see or hear "It is that ..." sentences as the following:

(1) "It's not that I don't want to support you. It's just that I don't know how."

I'd like to know if "It is that ..." sentences can give an explanation to a non-linguistic context. For example, how about (2)?

(2) [Context: The speaker coughs badly, and the hearer watches him/her with an anxious look.]
"It's not that I'm sick. It's just that the water went down the wrong pipe."

I apologize if my English isn't very good.
Thank you.

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    What do you mean by non-linguistic context?
    – Gustavson
    Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 8:54
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    (1) Note that this is what is called a 'negative polarity item'. We'd say "It's not that I don't want to support you, but ..." but never start a paragraph with "It's that I want to help you." and "It's just that I can't ... " is far more common that "It's that I can't ...". (2) This is 'delexical it', which doesn't refer to a definite thing / concept already mentioned. "It's raining." What is? Here, "It's not that I don't want to support you, " could be paraphrased by (the less natural-sounding) "The actual situation here is not that I don't want ...".
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 14:21

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"It's not that I'm sick. It's just that the water went down the wrong pipe."

The phrase "It's not that..." is the subject of the sentence and is a substitute for a repetition of the phrase or subject that has already been mentioned. If the context is not clear it can easily be misunderstood.

"My coughing does not mean that I'm sick. It just means that the water went down the wrong pipe."

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