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

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

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

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

5. 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.)

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

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

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

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

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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. Evaluating Your Progress Use the “Critical Thinking-American Southwest” module in the Reading Skills section on the MyReadingLab Web site at http://www.ablongman.com/myreadinglab. http://www.ablongman.com/myreadinglab

14. For more practice visit the Companion Web site. http://www.ablongman.com/mcwhorter