When you read academic materials, very often you will have to distinguish between fact and opinion— between what the writer thinks and how the writer supports what he or she thinks, between what is proven to be true and what needs to be proved.
A good test for whether something is a fact or opinion might be to ask yourself, “Can this state-ment be debated? Is this known for certain to be true?” If you answer yes to the first question, you have an opinion; if you answer yes to the second, you have a fact.
Sometimes “facts” are incorrect or skewed because they were obtained from invalid or biased sources.
When you are reading a nonfi ction text, it’s important to note the author’s credentials and his or her sources. Use that information to validate the legitimacy of the “facts” being presented.
TIP
Practice 1
Try these questions on the following statements. Read them carefully, and then write F in the blank if the statement is a fact and O if it is an opinion. The answers appear right after the questions.
1. The Academy Awards honor the fi lm industry.
2. The Academy Awards are always fun to watch.
3. More independent fi lms should win Academy Awards.
4. The Academy Awards are an annual event.
5. Best Director is the most interesting Academy Award category.
Answers 1. Fact 2. Opinion 3. Opinion 4. Fact 5. Opinion
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Answers
How did you do? Was it easy to distinguish between the facts and the opinions? Here’s what your marked - up passage should look like. The facts are underlined and the opinions are in boldface type.
There are many different ways to invest your money to provide for a fi nancially secure future. Many people invest in stocks and bonds, but I think good old - fashioned savings accounts and CDs (certifi cates of deposit) are the best way to invest your hard - earned money. Stocks and bonds are often risky, and it doesn’t make sense to risk losing the money you’ve worked so hard for. True, regular savings accounts and CDs can’t make you a millionaire overnight or provide the high returns some stock investments do. But by the same token, savings accounts and CDs are fully insured and provide steady, secure interest on your money. That makes a whole lot of cents.
Practice 3
To strengthen your ability to distinguish between fact and opinion, try this. Take a fact, such as:
FACT: Wednesday is the fourth day of the week.
Now, turn it into an opinion. Make it something debatable, like this:
OPINION: Wednesday feels like the longest day of the week.
Here’s another example.
FACT: You must be 18 years old to vote in the United States.
OPINION: The voting age should be lowered to 16 years of age.
Try these next. Suggested answers come after the questions.
6. FACT: Healthcare costs have risen over the last several years.
OPINION:
7. FACT: The 22nd Amendment of the United States Constitution establishes a two-term limit for the presidency.
OPINION:
8. FACT: More than 58,000 Americans lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
OPINION:
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9. FACT: The Motion Picture Association of America’s R (Restricted) rating requires anyone under 17 to be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
OPINION:
10. FACT: Use of performance-enhancing drugs is strictly prohibited in both amateur and professional sports.
OPINION:
Answers
There are, of course, many opinions you could form from these subjects. Here are some possible answers.
6. Our government should make healthcare a higher priority.
Companies should give employees several health-care programs from which to choose.
People should stop complaining about health-care costs.
7. Presidents should be allowed to serve for three terms.
Limiting service to two terms makes U.S. presi-dents more effective.
Term limits are a very bad idea.
8. American soldiers should not have been sent to Vietnam.
Our government did all the right things concern-ing the Vietnam War.
9. The Motion Picture Association of America should not be able to rate fi lms.
The Motion Picture Association of America ratings should be taken seriously by all parents.
Movie ratings are useless.
10. Performance-enhancing drugs should be legal.
Competitive sports would be more interesting to watch if performance-enhancing drugs were legal.
Performance-enhancing drugs are the worst thing that ever happened to competitive sports.
Summary
The ability to differentiate between fact and opinion is a very important skill. Like a detective, you need to know the difference between what people think and what people know, between what people believe to be true and what has been proven to be true. Then you will be able to see whether writers support their opin-ions, and if they do, how they do it. This will allow you to judge for yourself the validity of those opinions.
When you are reading a nonfi ction text, seek out contradictory statements. They serve as red fl ags, signaling that what is being presented as “fact”
might actually be a half-truth or opinion.
TIP
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LESSON
4 5
I
n order to solve a crime, a detective cannot just get the facts of the case, just discover the motive, just decipher diffi cult clues, or just distinguish between fact and opinion. To be successful, a detective must do all these things at the same time. Similarly, reading really can’t be broken down into these separate tasks. Reading comprehension comes from employing all of these strategies simultaneously. This lesson gives you the opportu-nity to combine these strategies and take your reading comprehension skills to the next level.L E S S O N S U M M A RY
This lesson reviews what you learned in Lessons 1–4: getting the facts, finding the main idea, determining what words mean in context, and distinguishing between fact and opinion. In this les-son, you’ll get vital practice in using all four skills at once.
There is creative reading as well as creative writing.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet (1803–1882)