A fact is a statement that can be tested by experimentation, observation, or research and shown to be true or untrue. An opinion is a person's belief, feeling, or judgment about something. It is a subjective or value judgment, and it cannot be proven. A writer may use factual statements to support his or her opinions. A fact is a proven truth, whereas opinion is a personal view, that represents the outlook of an individual, which may or may not be based on the fact.

1. Recognising the difference between facts
and opinions and their uses
There is usually a question on the Reading
Paper which asks you about the writer’s
use of fact and opinion in the text.
What is a fact? What is an opinion?
How are they used?

2. Fact and opinion
• Fact – can be proved to be true
• Opinion – a belief, attitude or viewpoint.
Opinions can represent an individual or group
• Bias is shown in people’s opinions when
personal feelings are allowed to influence their
judgement. It can be evident in the words
writers use to put across a point of view. Bias
can be created through the way facts are
selected and used, as well as through opinion
Higher end marks MUST explain the use of fact and opinion.

3. Which of these are facts? Which are opinions?
Most of the
time, Homer
would like to
strangle Bart.
This is my
family.
Homer
works at the
power plant.
Lisa is the
nice one.

4. Facts are often near:
numbers
statistics
names
Opinions are often near:
maybe
perhaps
possibly
probably
likely
could/should/might
I believe
I think

5. Things to remember about fact and
opinion:
my job in the exam is not to prove true or false – this
would be mostly impossible!
my job is to find what could (in theory) be tested for
true or false = facts
if it can be tested (in real life), it is factual – even if it’s
a false fact!
my job is also to find what could never be tested for
true or false = opinions
opinions cannot be tested/proven
I must comment on why the writer is using them

6. Underline the facts and opinions in
this text

7. AVRIL LAVIGNE Talented Tomboy!
If you could have any pop star as your best mate, you could do a lot worse than Avril.
Everything about her screams “normal chick”. She doesn’t pose for the cameras, wear tiny
skirts or “do” dance routines. “People want me to look all pretty and sexy for pictures and it’s
just not my thing,” she reckons. Nah, forget girlie, Avril’s all about songs, boardin’ moves and
hanging out with sk8er bois. She’s an average girl, who lives with her parents and, er, just
happens to be worth a fortune!
Avril comes from a sleepy town in mid-Canada but always knew she was destined for greater
things. “I remember when I was really young, standing on my bed like it was a stage, singing
at the top of my lungs and visualising thousands of people surrounding me.” At the age of
18, she’s already achieved her ambition. Her debut single Complicated topped charts all over
the world and her rockin’ album Let Go has shown everyone that she’s no one hit wonder.
And instead of going down the usual “kit off to sell records” route, Avril has made it her way.
She reckons the main thing that female fans write to her about is how she sells music, not
her body. And in a world where you can’t flash too much flesh, that’s quite an achievement.
“I smash guitars in my videos, I swear in my interviews because that’s the attitude I’ve always
had,” she admits. Hey, who are we to argue?
Aren’t girls just great? We wear the coolest clothes, chat up the best boys and when it
comes to music, we win hands down. J17 salutes the girls putting the ggrrrr back into the
charts...
Donna Channy, Michelle Langan, J17 Spring 2002

8. Fact and Opinion
A question may asks you to explain HOW the fact and
opinions are used in a text.
You can do this by:
• Identifying as many facts and opinions in the text as
possible
• Select the 2-3 facts and opinions that you think you
can explain the use of (sometimes the question will
tell you how many to explain)
• For each, think about how this fact/opinion specially
has been used either to support the writer’s purpose
or the audience’s reaction to the text (think P.A.F.T.)
For example: in using the fact: “at the age of 18, she’s already achieved her ambition”
the writer is appealing to the audience of the text, who are 15-17 year old girls. This
fact interests them as they can imagine themselves in Avril’s shoes. This is one of the
features which makes the text appeal to it’s target audience.

9. Take 3 facts or opinions you’ve
found in the text and for each
EXPLAIN HOW it is used in the
text. Remember to link it to an
element of P.A.F. and tone.

10. Fact and opinion
• Not true or false!
• Facts can be tested/proven – opinion can’t.
You can have ‘false facts’.
• Unless the question asks otherwise, select
2/3 of each.
• Higher grades will require the explanation of
the uses of facts and opinions. Use the
following:
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for
this specific audience?”
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for
this specific purpose?”
– Also – you could explain how they make the audience feel
– shocked? amused? horrified? and why.

11. Fact and opinion
• Not true or false!
• Facts can be tested/proven – opinion can’t. You
can have ‘false facts’.
• Unless the question asks otherwise, select 2/3 of
each.
• Higher grades will require the explanation of the
uses of facts and opinions. Use the following:
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific audience?”
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific purpose?”
– Also – you could explain how they make the audience feel –
shocked? amused? horrified? and why.
Last lesson
we looked at:
Today we will continue to develop a secure understanding of HOW writers
use fact and opinion in their texts.

12. Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM
• Read through the text once and identify the
P.A.F.T.. How do you expect texts of this P.A.F.
to use fact and opinion?
• Read through the text a second time and
highlight the key facts and opinions .
• Complete the worksheet exploring HOW the
writer uses facts and opinions in the text.

13. Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling
Complete the grid below exploring HOW the writer uses facts and opinions in the text
FACT/OPINION HOW it is used by the writer Is it being used to support the purpose,
audience or tone of the text?
“While Spain has...
Gloucestershire is...”
“...an unbelievable
spectacle to top them all.”
The facts about the dangers of competing
in the race make it sound exciting. The
fact supports the previous mentions of
“fearless competitors” and “death-defying
slopes”.
The facts make the race sound dangerous but
not deadly. This helps the article fulfil it’s
purpose to entertain and inform as the reader
enjoys picturing the excitement of such a
dangerous race.
“... one of the world’s
wackiest spectator events.”
“With a disputed history
dating back to at least the
1800s...”
To reinforce the writer’s claim that the
event is very popular. It supports the
point with the large number of people
and the fact that they are more than just
locals.
This supports the tone of the text which is
excited and celebratory because it suggests that
many people enjoy the event and find it exciting
enough to watch on video many times.
EXTRA:
•Overall, how does the article use fact and opinion? What is the balance? Is it as we would expect for the purpose and
form?
•How does the writer build a sense of the excitement and spectacle that rolling a cheese down a hill can bring?

14. Fact and opinion
Last week we learnt:
• Fact and opinion is not as simple as true or false!
• Facts can be tested/proven; opinion cannot be
proven. You can have ‘false facts’.
• Unless the question asks otherwise, select 2/3 of
examples to support your answer to a question about
a writer’s use of fact and opinion.
• Higher grades will require the explanation of the uses
of facts and opinions. Think about the following:
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific audience?”
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific purpose?”
– Also – you could explain how they make the audience feel –
shocked? amused? horrified? and why.
Today we are continuing to develop a secure understanding of HOW writers
use fact and opinion in their texts. So can you answer:

15. Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling
• Overall, how does the article use fact and
opinion? What is the balance? Is it as we
would expect for the purpose and form?
• How does the writer build a sense of the
excitement and spectacle that rolling a cheese
down a hill can bring through their use of
these specific facts/opinions? How does the
reader feel because of the specific facts/
opinions used by the writer?

16. The Olympics: better than they looked on the tin
Watching sport is usually less interesting than
watching cardboard exist. Now my eyeballs are
eating up the Games.
Thanks, Olympics, for confounding my inner cynic.
In the run up to the Games, I was expecting the
whole thing to be awful. They announced plans to
ban non-Olympic vehicles from every single road in
the capital apart from Horn Lane in Acton, which
meant people were going to be forced to drive
their cars through buildings and rivers and way up
into the sky just to get to work.
Everything was terrible. And then the Games
began and suddenly everything sort of wasn't. The
opening ceremony helped, with its mix of
spectacle and eccentricity. I was in America and
the ceremony leaked through to make me feel a
tad sniffly and homesick. I flew home the following
day. The mood when I landed was markedly
different from when I left. Was the nation pleased
to see me? No. It was indoors, watching sport. And
soon, I was joining them.
I have no idea why some things qualify as Olympic
sports and others don't, though there's an obvious
and heavy class bias in favour of things you can
imagine royals doing in a tapestry, such as archery
or dressage. Falconry would surely be included if
Ken Loach hadn't depicted a commoner doing it in
the film Kes. You need your own castle grounds to
practise half these sports. No wonder a
disproportionate number of our victors thus far
seem notably posh, apart from Bradley Wiggins,
the first member of Oasis to attend a London
comprehensive school and win four gold medals.
Still, despite my confusion over the more pageant-
like events, I'm finding the Olympics hypnotically
watchable, and it's because … well … look, I don't
know.
I don't know. Understand this: for 100% of my life
so far, I found watching sport – any sport –
marginally less interesting than watching
cardboard exist. Now my eyeballs are eating it up,
even while my brain fails to make sense of it. Take
the swimming. I have no idea why there are so
many different flavours: 50m, 200m, 400m, 800m,
breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, relay, marathons,
medleys. I've seen endless hours of swimming. By
choice. You could leave it on in the background. It
was like having a fish tank full of mysterious water
people in the corner of the room. Made me feel
like a god tinkering in his shed, glancing at his pets
now and then. Oddly comforting.
At the time of writing, the running-and-jumping
stuff has begun in earnest; the sheer physical
agony of which I can personally relate to thanks to
hours spent playing the Track and Field computer
game in the 80s. No reason to believe this won't
become another time sponge. So yes, thanks,
Olympics, for confounding my inner cynic, and not
being awful. And for, I suppose, on balance, I
admit, I confess, in a whisper – actually being quite
good.
Charlie Brooker
The Guardian, Sunday 5 August 2012

17. The Olympics: better than they
looked on the tin
• Read through the text once and identify the P.A.F.T.. How do you
expect texts of this P.A.F. to use fact and opinion?
• Read through the text a second time and highlight the key facts and
opinions .
• Overall, how does the article use fact and opinion? What is the
balance? Is it as we would expect for the purpose and form?
• What does the writer show about their feelings towards the
Olympics through the use of these specific facts/opinions? How
does the reader feel because of the specific facts/opinions used by
the writer?
Remember to evidence particular phrases from the article to
support your answers (PEARL)
This article is from The Guardian newspaper. It is an example of an EDITORIAL. An
editorial is a particular style of writing in which a newspaper editor presents the
newspaper’s/their opinion about current issues.

18. The Olympics: better than they looked on the tin
Watching sport is usually less interesting than
watching cardboard exist. Now my eyeballs are
eating up the Games.
Thanks, Olympics, for confounding my inner cynic.
In the run up to the Games, I was expecting the
whole thing to be awful. They announced plans to
ban non-Olympic vehicles from every single road in
the capital apart from Horn Lane in Acton, which
meant people were going to be forced to drive
their cars through buildings and rivers and way up
into the sky just to get to work.
Everything was terrible. And then the Games
began and suddenly everything sort of wasn't. The
opening ceremony helped, with its mix of
spectacle and eccentricity. I was in America and
the ceremony leaked through to make me feel a
tad sniffly and homesick. I flew home the following
day. The mood when I landed was markedly
different from when I left. Was the nation pleased
to see me? No. It was indoors, watching sport. And
soon, I was joining them.
I have no idea why some things qualify as Olympic
sports and others don't, though there's an obvious
and heavy class bias in favour of things you can
imagine royals doing in a tapestry, such as archery
or dressage. Falconry would surely be included if
Ken Loach hadn't depicted a commoner doing it in
the film Kes. You need your own castle grounds to
practise half these sports. No wonder a
disproportionate number of our victors thus far
seem notably posh, apart from Bradley Wiggins,
the first member of Oasis to attend a London
comprehensive school and win four gold medals.
Still, despite my confusion over the more pageant-
like events, I'm finding the Olympics hypnotically
watchable, and it's because … well … look, I don't
know.
I don't know. Understand this: for 100% of my life
so far, I found watching sport – any sport –
marginally less interesting than watching
cardboard exist. Now my eyeballs are eating it up,
even while my brain fails to make sense of it. Take
the swimming. I have no idea why there are so
many different flavours: 50m, 200m, 400m, 800m,
breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, relay, marathons,
medleys. I've seen endless hours of swimming. By
choice. You could leave it on in the background. It
was like having a fish tank full of mysterious water
people in the corner of the room. Made me feel
like a god tinkering in his shed, glancing at his pets
now and then. Oddly comforting.
At the time of writing, the running-and-jumping
stuff has begun in earnest; the sheer physical
agony of which I can personally relate to thanks to
hours spent playing the Track and Field computer
game in the 80s. No reason to believe this won't
become another time sponge. So yes, thanks,
Olympics, for confounding my inner cynic, and not
being awful. And for, I suppose, on balance, I
admit, I confess, in a whisper – actually being quite
good.
Charlie Brooker
The Guardian, Sunday 5 August 2012

19. Fact and opinion
We’re learnt:
• Fact and opinion is not as simple as true or false!
• Facts can be tested/proven; opinion cannot be
proven. You can have ‘false facts’.
• Unless the question asks otherwise, select 2/3 of
examples to support your answer to a question about
a writer’s use of fact and opinion.
• Higher grades will require the explanation of the uses
of facts and opinions. Think about the following:
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific audience?”
– “Why has the writer used these specific facts/opinions for this
specific purpose?”
– Also – you could explain how they make the audience feel –
shocked? amused? horrified? and why.
Today we continued to develop a secure understanding of HOW writers use
fact and opinion in their texts. So can you answer:
How do the two texts differ in their use of fact and opinion?