2018-01-25 Writing: supporting opinions with facts

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all my classes
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Homework: Try to think of one or two supporting details for each of the other reasons. (You can write them in the outline on p. 167.)
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Handout p. 169 - Answer these questions about the opinion piece on violent video games.
1 They’re harmful to young people. “In my opinion”. (“I feel” in the conclusion)
2 Three.
3 “First of all”, “A second reason”, “A third reason”
4 (The first is stronger scientific evidence, the third probably has more emotional impact.)
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Reason 1: Studies show that games can change young people’s behavior.
	Example 1: playing these games -> aggressive thoughts and angry feelings
	Example 2: players fight at school and argue with teachers
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(Notice that example 2 only says people who play games also fight at school. It doesn’t prove which one caused the other.)
Statistically, places that have more doctors also have more sick people. Do doctors make them sick?
	- No, it means sick people go to doctors.
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p. 171 - Which sentences are facts, and which are opinions? (Write F or O.)
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“Using a cell phone while driving is dangerous.” - fact or opinion?
- We could say that this is an unsupported fact, or an unsupported factual claim.
- (It may be true or false, and if you disagree you’d be wrong, but we don’t know for sure.)
“Tokyo is the capital of Korea.” - this is not a fact (because it’s false) or an opinion
- We could say this is a “false factual claim”.
- “In my opinion, Tokyo is the capital of Korea.” - still not an opinion
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“According to a survey, 90% of Bostonians think Bostonians are nicer than New Yorkers.” - fact
“Bostonians are nicer than New Yorkers.” - opinion
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A man jumped off the 100-story Empire State Building.
As he passed the 30th floor, he shouted, “So far, so good!”
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Homework: Brainstorm a list of reasons why you SHOULDN’T study English. (Try to think of at least 5.)