RENDERING. Богатова С.М - 11 стр.

      C. Identifying the author’s opinion                                            In 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his
                                                                              7th Cavalry engaged in a fight with Sioux Indians along the Little/Big
       Because writers don't always say things directly, sometimes it is      Horn Rivers in Montana. Custer and his entire company were wiped
difficult to figure out what a writer really means or what he or she is       out; no one survived to tell what really happened.
really trying to say. You need to learn to «read between the lines» – to             In this instance, we can only read opinions on how this disaster
take the information the writer gives you and figure things out for           befell Custer.
yourself.                                                                            To sum up, facts
       You will also need to learn to distinguish between fact and opin-             Â can be verified in reference books, official records, and so
ion. Writers often tell us what they think or how they feel, but they                    forth.
don't always give us the facts. It's important to be able to interpret what          Â are expressed in concrete language or specific numbers.
the writer is saying so you can form opinions of your own. As you read               Â once verified, are generally agreed upon by people.
an author's views, you should ask yourself if the author is presenting
you with an established fact or with a personal opinion. Since the two              Determining An Opinion
may appear close together, even in the same sentence, you have to be                 Opinions are based on subjective judgement and personal values
able to distinguish between them.                                             rather than on information that can be verified. An opinion is a belief
       The key difference between facts and opinions is that facts can        that someone holds without complete proof or positive knowledge that
be verified, or checked for accuracy, by anyone. In contrast, opinions        it is correct. Even experts who have studied the same issue carefully
cannot be checked for accuracy by some outside source. Opinions are           often have very different opinions about that issue.
what someone personally thinks or how he/she feel about an issue.                    Opinions are often disputed, and many times involve abstract
Opinions by definition are subjective and relative.                           concepts and complex moral issues such as right or wrong, fairness and
      Defining A Fact                                                         loyalty. Abstract concepts, because they are not easily understood, can
                                                                              never be defined to everyone's satisfaction. For example, each of us
       Facts are objective, concrete bits of information. They can be         holds a personal opinion about what fairness or loyalty is, about gun
found in official government and legal records, and in the physical sci-      control and abortion, and these issues always remain a matter of opin-
ences. Facts can be found in reference books, such as encyclopaedias          ion, not fact.
and atlases, textbooks, and relevant publications. Objective facts are               Although opinions cannot be verified for accuracy, writers
what researchers seek in laboratories or through controlled studies.          should, nevertheless, back their opinions with evidence, facts, and rea-
Facts are usually expressed by precise numbers or quantities, in              son – by whatever information supports the opinion and convinces the
weights and measures, and in concrete language. The decisions of              reader that it is a valid opinion. A valid opinion is one in which the
Congress, specific technological data, birth records, historical docu-        writer's support for his or her opinion is solid and persuasive, and one
ments, all provide researchers with reliable facts.                           in which the writer cites other respected authorities who are in agree-
       Since anyone can look up facts, facts are generally not the sub-       ment. If a writer presents an extreme or unconvincing opinion, the
ject of disputes. However, not all facts are absolutes. Often the problem     reader should remain wary or unconvinced.
is that facts are simply not readily available – such as battles like the            Writers often slip their personal opinions into a piece of writing,
Little/Big Horn where all the witnesses who could give information on         even when it is suppose to be a «factual» account; alert readers can
what happened died in the disaster.                                           identify subjective opinions by studying the writer's language.


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