Name: ______________________________________________ Per: __________ Date:
____________
How Do You Separate Fact from Opinion?
According to Webster's Dictionary a fact is "anything that is done or happens;
anything actually existent; any statement strictly true; truth; reality."
Three examples of facts that are concrete and that could be documented include:
1. The house was painted on November 18, 1999.
2. Today is Saturday.
3. My son had a temperature of one hundred and two degrees this morning.
Whereas an opinion is defined as "indicating a belief, view, sentiment, conception."
Obvious indicators of opinion are when sentences include words such as:
"Generally, it is thought", "I believe that", "It is a sad day when."
For example, how the three facts above can be changed to opinions would be to
add a belief or view. For example:
1. The house was painted recently on November 18, 1999, so it looks as good as
new.
2. Today is Saturday and Mark always sleeps in on Saturdays, so that is why he
is late for the game.
3. There was no way for me to go to school because my son had a temperature
of one hundred and two degrees this morning.
Sometimes it is challenging to tell the facts and opinions apart. For example, is the
following a fact or an opinion?
"Abraham Lincoln was the most eloquent writer of all the U.S. Presidents."
This is an _______________, but you have to know that eloquent is a descriptive word
to for this to become clear. Descriptive words are subjective, or state someone's
opinion. It can become unclear how to separate fact and opinion when many people
hold the same opinion. This is when it becomes important to understand what the
word bias means.
A bias is an opinion or an attitude we have for or against something. A bias usually
stems from our feelings rather than from rational thought. What is very important to
realize is that ALL of us are biased. We are biased for or against certain people,
activities, and ideas. We become biased because certain people, activities, or ideas
do not appeal to us at some level. Of equal importance to realize is that we have
"good biases" as well, that is we favor certain people, activities, or ideas. In these
cases, our biases are still irrational, just like our negative ones.
Most of the time we keep our biases inside and use them to decide who to vote for,
what to study in school, and how we want to appear in public. Other times,
however, people can let their bias or opinions guide them to do dangerous acts.
