Fact or Fiction

[Lauren Benatti]

1. The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet deep.

This sounds like a fact as it is something that can be proven.

2. Smoking is bad for your health.

While I am tempted to say that this is a fact, I believe the way that the sentence is worded makes it sound like an opinion. "Bad" is a subjective and relative term, which different people could apply in different ways.

3. 85 percent of all cases of lung cancer in the US are caused by smoking

This sounds like a fact as it is something that can be proven.

4. One out of every hundred American citizens is color blind.

This sounds like a fact as the statistic is something that can be proven.

5. Two out of ten American citizens are boring.
This sounds like an opinion, as "boring" is a subjective term that means different things to different people.

[Ayia Gospodinova]

Lauren - I like your reasoning on #2 as it really highlights how you were able to suspend your prior knowledge and evaluate the statement only on the information it provided. 

[Rudy R. Racine]

Lauren, I agree with your reasoning for both #2 & #5. Both of them use words that are relative and can be looked at differently depending on the audience. Although "bad" is bad and "boring" is boring, there are levels of interpretation for each word. What one person may consider "bad" another might consider "not too bad", and what one person may consider "boring" another may think is awesome. Overall, I agree with the cases you made for each item. Good work!