Chapter 10: Fact and Opinion Active Reading Skills, 2/e Kathleen McWhorter Brette McWhorter Sember PowerPoint by Gretchen Starks-Martin

Distinguishing Facts and Opinion  Facts are statements that can be verified.  Facts can be proven true or false.  Facts are objective.

Example of Fact  My car payments are $250 per month.  (You can check this by reading the car loan statement.)

Distinguishing Facts and Opinion  Opinions are statements that express a writer’s feelings, attitudes, or beliefs.  They are neither true or false.

Example of Opinion  “My car payments are too expensive.”  (Others may disagree with you, especially the company that sold you the car or another person who is paying more than you are.)

Recognizing Judgment Words (Interpreting, Evaluating, Expressing Feeling)  bad  worse  good  better  best  frightening  worthless  disgusting  amazing  wonderful  lovely

Mixing Fact and Opinion  Writers often mix fact and opinion to encourage readers to accept their opinions along with the facts.

Mixing Fact and Opinion  Example: Dr. Athena Hunt, one of the best nutritionists, wrote an article titled, “Soy: The Amazing Miracle Bean.”

Evaluating Fact and Opinion  Use a reliable source.  Find current sources.  Look at primary sources when possible.

Substantiating Opinions 1.Give reasons. 2.Offer personal experience that supports the opinion. 3.Present statistics. 4.Offer examples.

Informed Opinions  The opinion of experts is known as informed opinion. The Surgeon General is regarded as an authority on the health of Americans, so his opinion would be more trustworthy than a casual observer.

Opinion Words and Phrases  apparently  presumably  in my opinion  this suggests  possibly  it is believed  in my view  it is likely that  seemingly  one explanation is  according to

Evaluating Your Progress Use the “Critical Thinking-American Southwest” module in the Reading Skills section on the MyReadingLab Web site at

For more practice visit the Companion Web site.