Inside Language, Literacy, and Content [Level C]

Connect Across the Curriculum, continued

Literary Analysis: Distinguish Facts and Opinions

Nonfiction texts such as “Seeking Freedom” give facts about ideas and events. Sometimes nonfiction writers include opinions. They may express their own views of certain ideas or events. They also may report other people’s opinions.

A fact is a statement that can be proved as true or false. Numbers and dates often signal statements of fact.

An opinion is a statement of what a person thinks or believes. Opinions often include signal words like think, believe, want or like. Descriptive words such as good, wise, or foolish may signal opinions, too.

Protesters in Pakistan state their opinions.

Practice Together

Read and Discuss In a group, read the examples of fact and opinion from “Seeking Freedom.” Then read and discuss the explanation. It tells how the example is fact or opinion.

Fact-and-Opinion Chart

	Fact	Opinion
Example	“Part of the Constitution is the Bill of Rights.”	“Sometimes people leave their homes. They might move to a country with more freedom, but this can be very hard.”
Why?	You can look at the Constitution to see if this is a true statement.	You cannot prove whether the statement is true. You can interpret the words very hard in different ways.

Try It!

Find Facts and Opinions Reread “Seeking Freedom.” Identify more facts and opinions. List them in a chart like the one above.