2016-08-03 Writing: facts and opinions

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: Read about “Video Games and Violence” on p. 168-169 and answer the questions on p. 169
1 Violent video games are harmful to young people. “In my opinion”
2 3
3 First of all, A second reason that violent video games are harmful to young people is that, A third reason is that
4 Why the first one? - The writer gives facts based on scientific research.
	(but he doesn’t give methods or data, and there’s no emotional impact)
  Why the third one? - The writer gives an extreme example with a strong emotional impact.
	(but it’s not clear whether the example is really connected to video games)
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They murdered their classmates. They played video games.
- These are two separate facts, and the paragraph never explains how they are connected.

They murdered their classmates. Just before that, they went bowling.
- Is this good evidence that bowling has harmful effects on teenagers?

The first reason shows a direct connection. It compares students who frequently play violent video games to students who don’t.
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Facts vs. Opinion
fact: real, objective things which we can check and test
	“People who play violent video games are more violent than people who don’t.”
	(If two people disagree about a fact, one of them is wrong.)
opinion: subjective feelings which we can’t check
	“Violent video games are disgusting.”
	(If two people disagree about an opinion, neither one is wrong.)

Statements about facts can be unsupported or unverified without becoming opinions.
	“It’s colder in NYC than in Boston.” - I don’t know if this is true, but it’s definitely not an opinion.
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p. 171 - Which statements are facts? Which ones are opinions?
- All the statements on the left column are facts, all the ones on the right are opinions.

Mrs. King said, “I am a good mother.” - fact, because she really said this
Mrs. King is a good mother. - opinion, because we could disagree about her quality as a mother
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p. 172 - Complete the outline of the video game paragraph, and decide if each statement is a fact or an opinion
A   F (we can check if studies show this)
  1 F (we can check if researchers really said this)
  2 F (this is still about the research)
B   O (or unsupported fact - we can check it, but the writer didn’t check)
  1 I believe that these games make it entertaining to shoot and kill, and the line between imaginary violence and real violence becomes very thin or disappears entirely for children.  O (or unsupported fact)
  2 F
  3 F (his mother really said this)
C   In my opinion, children who do not...solution. O
  1 F
  2 Two students shot and killed 12 classmates, a teacher, and themselves at a Colorado high school.  F
  3 F
conc:   I feel… O
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Noah’s mother claimed he was acting out a video game character.
claimed = said (but I don’t necessarily believe it)

She said she was sick. = She said, “I am sick,” and I (probably) believed her.
She claimed she was sick. = She said, “I am sick,” but I don’t really believe her.