Level 5 — Advanced · Technical & Evidence-Based Writing
Task 77: Fact, Interpretation, or Opinion?
Write three sentences about the same situation — one fact, one interpretation, one opinion — and label each correctly. The production side of Lesson 77's reasoning-layers skill.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Write one sentence each of fact, interpretation, and opinion about the same situation
- Keep the fact free of any judgment or inference
- Explain in one line what distinguishes each sentence from the other two
Introduction
Lesson 77 taught you to separate a text's reasoning layers — what's observed, what's inferred, and what's merely judged. This task makes you build all three on purpose, about the same situation, so the difference becomes something you can produce, not just recognize.
The Three Layers
Core Concept
Fact — something directly observable or verifiable, with no judgment attached. Interpretation — a reasoned reading of what the fact might mean, still open to reasonable disagreement. Opinion — a value judgment about whether something is good, bad, or desirable, which another reasonable person could hold differently.
Example
Fact: The warehouse processed 200 fewer orders this week than last week. Interpretation: This drop is likely connected to the two staff members who were on leave. Opinion: Management should have arranged temporary cover, because customer service matters more than short-term staffing costs.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Pick one real situation from your work or studies. Write one sentence that is purely a fact (no judgment, nothing inferred), one sentence that is a reasonable interpretation of that fact, and one sentence that is a genuine opinion about it. Label each sentence.
Vocabulary in Context
verifiableadjectiveformal
able to be checked and confirmed as true or false (যাচাইযোগ্য)
Often with verifiable fact, easily verifiable, independently verifiable
“The delivery date is a verifiable fact; 'a poor service' is not.”
value judgmentnoun phraseformal
a statement about whether something is good, bad, right, or wrong (মূল্যবোধভিত্তিক রায়)
Often with make a value judgment, a value judgment about, avoid a value judgment
“Calling the policy 'unfair' is a value judgment, not a fact.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
Fact: The delivery app's average rating dropped from 4.6 to 4.1 over three months. Interpretation: The drop likely reflects the slower delivery times introduced when the courier partnership changed. Opinion: The company was wrong to switch courier partners without first testing the new provider's reliability, since customer trust is harder to win back than it is to lose.
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Is the fact sentence truly free of any inference or judgment?
- Does the interpretation sentence stay reasonable and connected to the fact, rather than jumping to a value judgment?
- Does the opinion sentence clearly state a position another reasonable person could disagree with?
Next: Writing 78 — Naming a Sentence's Job: writing two sentences that each do a different rhetorical job in an argument, then labelling what job each one performs.