Fact and Opinion

Fact and Opinion

Quarter 2 Week 5

Fact or Fake

• Popcorn can pop up to three feet into the air.

• There was a man who cooked 427 omelets in half an hour.

• The biggest pizza in the world was made at a pizzeria in Rome.

Fact or Fake

• A battle nose dolphin has a bigger brain than a human.

• Snow leopards can't roar.

• Bees have three eyes.

Fact or Fake

• The amount of whipped cream manufactured in the US could cover half of the United States.

• A company made a fruit smoothie big enough to fill four bathtubs.

• There was once a nine-and-a-half foot tall billboard made entirely by chocolate.

FACT OR FAKE

The biggest breed of spider can grow to a size slightly bigger than a baseball.

FACT OR FAKE

Some avalanches travel more than 100 miles an hour.

FACT OR FAKE

A newborn koala is about the size of a chicken egg.

FACT OR FAKE

There are about 150,000 hairs growing on an average person's head at any given moment.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

• identify factual information and opinion-based statements

• define opinion and fact; and

• assess a text containing fact and opinion

How do we distinguish between fact and opinion?

One way to distinguish between fact and opinion is to look at the language used. Language helps us to decide whether a statement can be backed up with evidence and verified in some way. Or it can help to show whether the statement is someone’s point of view, judgement or belief.

Fact

• A fact is a statement that can be tested by experimentation, observation, or research and shown to be true or untrue.

Examples of the language we use to express facts:

• This review has demonstrated…

• According to the results of the latest poll…

• The latest findings confirm…

• Researchers have recently discovered…

Opinion

• An opinion is a person’s belief, feeling, or judgment about something. It is a subjective or value judgment, and it cannot be proven. 

Examples of the language we use to express opinions: 

• The company claims that…

• The research team argues that...

• In Professor Donald’s view…

• Most experts in this field suspect that…

A writer may use factual statements to support his or her opinions. Opinion statements may occur even in what seems to be strictly factual material. A reader should look for words that are clues to statements of opinion. 

• Words such as; perhaps, sometimes, probably, often, indicate the possibility of opinions.

• Words such as I feel, I think, I believe, clearly point out that an opinion is being expressed.  

When people write articles, they often select facts that support their opinion.

• checking that any reports that are quoted actually exist and refer to the fact in question

• finding other sources that give opposing points of view

• thinking of the reason the text has been written and its audience (for example, an article in a popular newspaper may have been written to sell the newspaper rather than to give a true or fair account of an incident)

• looking for sensationalist words, such as ‘horror’ or ‘disgraceful’, which might influence readers’ opinions.

Multiple Select

In the past year 577 000 cosmetic treatments were carried out in the UK - around 90% of them on women.

• Fact

• Opinion

Multiple Select

A recent survey found that almost half of Britons would consider cosmetic surgery.

• Fact

• Opinion

Multiple Select

In 'The Lord of the Rings', J R R Tolkien introduces readers to an imaginary world inhabited by humans, elves and hobbits

• Fact

• Opinion

Multiple Select

In order to increase concentration in classrooms, students should sit in the middle of the front row.

• Fact

• Opinion

Activity

Identifying fact and opinion

The twenty-first Century 

Highlight all the facts in bold and underline the opinions. 

Assignment

Finish all the assigned tasks for this week.