Is it a fact, or is it an opinion?
Does it matter?
Yes.
Both are important.
But knowing how to distinguish between fact and opinion
can help us to better understand
what we read and hear,
and how we form our opinions.
Let's take a look.
A fact is a statement that can be proven to be true.
Facts are objetive,
which means they are not influenced
by what someone thinks or believes.
A fact is indisputable
and cannot be changed.
There are some key questions to identify facts.
1) Can it be measured or confirmed with calculations or data?
For example,
two plus two equals four.
We can add the numbers and demostrate
that this stament is true.
2) Can it be observed? Can we see it happen?
For, instance,
99% of people cannot lick ther elbow.
This is true.
This is a fact that can be observed.
Research has determined that one over a hundred people
can successfully complete this task.
3) Can it be verified by primary sources,
such as research, photographs, newspapers,
and other facts?
Here is an example,
Nintendo was started in 1889.
This is a fact because it can be verifed
by many sources.
A man named Fusajiro Yamauchi, from Japan
founded Nintendo as a playing card company in 1889,
and now is one of the largest gaming companies in the world.
Now, let's move on to opinion,
which sometimes can be a little trickier.
An opinion is a statement
of believe or judgement.
Opinions express which someone thinks or feels.
An opinion can change.
Let's look some examples.
Ice cream is delicious.
Many people believe this but some people don't.
It is a judgement, and therefore an opinion.
When we evaluate something or somebody
we often use adjectives such as important, beautiful
fun or difficult.
An adjective that allows to judge something
is a clue that a statement is an opinion.
Another signal word for opinions is the word should.
Here is an example.
Everyone should learn more than one language.
Whether may be very good reasons
to learnn more tnan one language,
not everyone would agree,
personal value do itself.
Political views are opinions.
Different people hold different ideas
about what societies are,
and how is the best to address them.
Since opinion can´t be proven or disproven,
there is no right or wrong answer,
just different view points.
While opinions may be supported by facts and evidence,
the issue we care about will still be
For example, I can say that
going to school year-round is better for students.
There are supporters of this viewpoint.
Someone argues that a shorter vacation period
would prevent students from forgetting what they learnt,
or say that students often get bored over the summer.
Or that other countries around the world use a year-round system.
However, we cannot prove that the stament is true.
There are many reasons to think that a tenth- month calendar is better.
You can argue that a student needs an extended break,
and that they should be allowed to participate in other summer activities.
Or that a lack of air conditioning means
they shouldn't be inside school buildings in the summer.
If we look back at the statement,
we can also identify another signal word for opinion.
The word better.
When we are comparing different things,
or we see words like 'greatest','best' or 'better',
it can suggest we are looking at an opinion statement.
Another type of opinion is a prediction.
Often predictions are made on experience.
knowledge or research.
But because they are based on the future,
we can't actually verify them today.
Let's look an example.
That sounds amazing and scary.
Although many
we have no way of verifying the statement today.
So, it is an opinion.
One thing to remember is that just because
we believe something to be true,
that does not make it a fact.
Let's recap what we learnt.
A fact is a statement that can be proven to be true,
Can it be measured or confirmed by data?
Can it be observed?
Can we verify its truth with other sources?
Does it say the same?
If we answer yes to one of these questions
that means it is a fact.
An opinion is a statement of believe and judgement
that cannot be proven to be true.
Does it evalute someone or something?
Can we debate it?
Does it make a prediction?
Can it change?
If you may answer 'Yes' to these questions, is an opinion.
Knowing how to separate between fact and opinion,