Fact or Opinion Answer on Elephants
To help my ASVAB students prepare for the Paragraph Comprehension section on the ASVAB, I wrote a book entitled, The ASVAB Tutor’s Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension Study Guide. To help improve my students’ reading comprehension skills, I included passages and multiple-choice questions in the book. I also included a section that reviews the various types of questions that can appear on the Paragraph Comprehension section of the ASVAB. More common types of questions include: main idea, detail, vocabulary, inference, cause and effect, author’s tone, and author’s purpose. Another type of question that could appear on this section would be a fact and opinion question. Yesterday I presented a Paragraph Comprehension question. This question requires differentiating between fact or opinion.
The topic is elephants.
The question is:
Which one is an opinion?
- Elephants are the largest land animals.
- Elephants are beautiful animals.
- Elephants are mammals
- Elephants can weigh 200 pounds at birth.
A fact is a true statement that can be proven. An opinion is a statement that includes someone’s beliefs, views, or judgments. In looking at these choices, it can be seen which one is an opinion.
Choice A. Elephants are the largest land animals is a fact.
Choice C. Elephants are mammals is a fact.
Choice D. Elephants can weigh 200 pounds at birth is a fact.
The correct answer is Choice B. Elephants are beautiful animals. This is an opinion. It is someone’s belief that cannot be proven. Opinions vary from person to person.
