This is from a worksheet at my school:
My father is 205 cm. He is tall.
So, is it fact or opinion. Tall would seem to be an opinion word to me. But, 205 cm…Almost anybody would call that tall, right?
This is from a worksheet at my school:
My father is 205 cm. He is tall.
So, is it fact or opinion. Tall would seem to be an opinion word to me. But, 205 cm…Almost anybody would call that tall, right?
[quote=“KathVic”]This is from a worksheet at my school:
My father is 205 cm. He is tall.
So, is it fact or opinion. Tall would seem to be an opinion word to me. But, 205 cm…Almost anybody would call that tall, right?[/quote]
Well, technically, I’d say it’s still an opinion, even if he’s 300 cm.
Because you could put him in the Lakers dressing room, and he wouldn’t be considered tall.
To become a fact, it would either need a value attached (He’s 205 cm tall), or changed to a comparative.
Technically.
205cm would easily put him in the tallest 10% of males. Fact.
Therefore he is tall. Fact.
I hate some of these worksheets.
The correct answer is that it’s neither a fact nor an opinion. It is a lie. Two hundred and five centimetres my arse! If he’s Taiwanese, I bet his father is actually no taller than Bilbo Baggins’ mum. Call bullshit on your student in front of the whole class and then go and make him stand in the corner. No one likes a lying toad just trying to get attention.
I still hate this and other worksheets. They just want to keep the students busy.
[quote=“adikarmika”]205cm would easily put him in the tallest 10% of males. Fact.
Therefore he is tall. Fact.[/quote]
the chief is correct. You are wrong.
A fact can be proved either true or false. And opinion is what you think, usually (hopefully) based on some fact.
Read again what the chief posted regarding comparison.
[quote=“Tigerman”][quote=“adikarmika”]205cm would easily put him in the tallest 10% of males. Fact.
Therefore he is tall. Fact.[/quote]
the chief is correct. You are wrong.
A fact can be proved either true or false. And opinion is what you think, usually (hopefully) based on some fact.
Read again what the chief posted regarding comparison.[/quote]
Actually I would say that it is not really fact or fiction. It is an example of a posteriori knowledge.
[quote]
My father is 205 cm.[/quote]
My father is 205cm which is based on a priori knowledge.
[quote=“Tigerman”][quote=“adikarmika”]205cm would easily put him in the tallest 10% of males. Fact.
Therefore he is tall. Fact.[/quote]
the chief is correct. You are wrong.
A fact can be proved either true or false. And opinion is what you think, usually (hopefully) based on some fact.[/quote]
So you’re saying that if a candidate scores say 8 or 9 on IELTS (putting him or her in easily in the top 10% of test takers) that it is merely opinion to say that he or she is good at English.
[quote=“adikarmika”][quote=“Tigerman”][quote=“adikarmika”]205cm would easily put him in the tallest 10% of males. Fact.
Therefore he is tall. Fact.[/quote]
the chief is correct. You are wrong.
A fact can be proved either true or false. And opinion is what you think, usually (hopefully) based on some fact.[/quote]
So you’re saying that if a candidate scores say 8 or 9 on IELTS (putting him or her in easily in the top 10% of test takers) that it is merely opinion to say that he or she is good at English.[/quote]
Well, considering that the Dutch outscore the British on the Academic IELTS, that is better left unsaid.
My answer on the original question is - it is irrelevant. Those worksheets are usually aimed at adjective order and there should not be a discussion on whether tall is fact or opinion. It is size.
While I’m sure the correct answer according to the worksheet is ‘fact’. The Chief on this one very rare occasion is right. In fact, it’s an opinion.
I had a student argue with me that the first part “My father is 205 cm tall” is a fact. It is, isn’t it. I just have this problem that if I accept both answers as correct it will be seen as a sign of weakness by my students.
‘My father is 205cm tall,’ is a fact because it is verifiable. ‘He is tall,’ is an opinion supported by a fact.
My father is 205 cm in height becomes a fact when I accept the convention of your chosen unit of measurement. (To avoid confusion, let’s leave out the word “tall” here, since as we know, a 1 year old car is not “old”.)
In the same way, saying someone with a BMI of 35 is overweight becomes a fact when I accept certain standard medical definitions of what it means to be overweight.
Similarly with being proficient at English, or poor, or intelligent, etc.
I’m not a doctor, but I would imagine that there is a certain medical defintion for tallness and that someone who is 205cm in hight would fit that definition. Thus, I would still maintain his being tall is a fact that is as valid as his being 205 cm in height, provided I am willing to accept certain standards and conventions.
[quote=“heimuoshu”]Well, considering that the Dutch outscore the British on the Academic IELTS, that is better left unsaid.
[/quote]
Haha. That’s funny as hell.
[quote=“the chief”][quote=“KathVic”]This is from a worksheet at my school:
My father is 205 cm. He is tall.
So, is it fact or opinion. Tall would seem to be an opinion word to me. But, 205 cm…Almost anybody would call that tall, right?[/quote]
Well, technically, I’d say it’s still an opinion, even if he’s 300 cm.
Because you could put him in the Lakers dressing room, and he wouldn’t be considered tall.
To become a fact, it would either need a value attached (He’s 205 cm tall), or changed to a comparative.
Technically.[/quote]
It is a fact, and 205cm = 6’10" which would make him tall, even in the Lakers dressing room.
Ron Artest F 6-7
Matt Barnes F 6-7
Steve Blake G 6-3
Shannon Brown G 6-4
Kobe Bryant G 6-6
Andrew Bynum C 7-0
Derrick Caracter F 6-9
Devin Ebanks F 6-9
Derek Fisher G 6-1
Pau Gasol F 7-0
Lamar Odom F 6-10
Theo Ratliff C 6-10
Joe Smith F 6-10
Luke Walton F 6-8
My father is 205 cm in height becomes a fact when I accept the convention of your chosen unit of measurement. (To avoid confusion, let’s leave out the word “tall” here, since as we know, a 1 year old car is not “old”.)
In the same way, saying someone with a BMI of 35 is overweight becomes a fact when I accept certain standard medical definitions of what it means to be overweight.
Similarly with being proficient at English, or poor, or intelligent, etc.
I’m not a doctor, but I would imagine that there is a certain medical defintion for tallness and that someone who is 205cm in hight would fit that definition. Thus, I would still maintain his being tall is a fact that is as valid as his being 205 cm in height, provided I am willing to accept certain standards and conventions.[/quote]
Regardless of all that it is still an opinion supported by a fact. I also think 205cm is tall, but that’s just my personal opinion that is shared by many I’m sure.
Yes. It would likely be deemed an opinion supported by fact, and thus a reasonable opinion. However, someone who scored perfect on that exam might opine that the person who scored only 8 or 9 isn’t very proficient with English.
You could go in circles, I know. We could say that it is widely recognized that a score of 8 or 9 indicates that a person is quite proficient in English. That this is widely recognized is a fact. However, so long as someone else holds a different standard, whether one is very proficient is a matter of opinion.
We can likewise say that most people will deem a person who stands 6’10" as being tall. But, that’s just relative, as are most things. It may be a fact that most people consider 6’10" to be tall, but, if I am 7’4", I would likely opine that 6’10" ain’t that tall.
In other words, we can say that it is a fact that in most people’s opinion, a score of 8 or 9 on the IELTS indicates good proficiency in English, and it is a fact that most people would opine that 6’10" is tall.
If I’m looking to buy a brand-spanking new car, a 1 year old car is… old, IMO.
[quote=“Tigerman”]
You could go in circles, I know. We could say that it is widely recognized that a score of 8 or 9 indicates that a person is quite proficient in English. That this is widely recognized is a fact. However, so long as someone else holds a different standard, whether one is very proficient is a matter of opinion.[/quote]
This is exactly my point. Your basis for saying a particularl person’s being 205 cm in height is a fact depends on the general acceptance of a what a metre is. But suppose where I come from we choose to define metre differently. Then I would not consider the person in question to be 205cm. All so called “facts” are conventions, created by us.
And since an IELTS score of 7 is generally recognised by universities and medical licensing bodies as indicating that the test-taker is “proficient” in English, it simply will not do to say it is “just” my opinion. It is a convention that is sufficiently widely accepted to warrent calling it a fact.
Without giving certain conventions the status of facts, you will never find a single fact anywhere.