Part One: Warm Up
Discuss the following questions with your partner(s).
- Do you think it’s difficult for men and women to be friends with one another? Why or why not?
- What are the advantages of having a friend of a different gender?
Part Two: Vocabulary
Exercise
Part Three: Reading
In this lesson, you will read an article from Psychology Today about whether men and women can be friends. You are going to evaluate the article and decide if some of the ideas it contains are facts or opinions.
Before you read, it’s important to understand the characteristics of facts and opinions and the difference between them.
Fact
- A fact can be checked and backed up with evidence. For example, if the information can be supported by research, dates, and records, it is considered a fact. For example,
- a population survey
- a research study
- records
- Some examples of language that can be used to express facts
- The institutions surveyed…
- The researchers confirmed…
- The scientists discovered…
- According to the research study,...
Opinion
- An opinion is a belief held by a person or a small group of people. The information has no evidence that can be checked. For example,
- judgements
- personal interpretations
- speculations
- Some examples of language that can be used to express opinions
- The researchers argue that…
- Some people believe that…
- It has been said that…
- The company claims that...
Be careful
Sometimes people use language to manipulate facts and opinions. Look at the example below:
The statement made by the president supports the fact that many people want an increase in the minimum wage.
Even though the sentence says that many people want an increase in the minimum wage, it was not confirmed through research or surveys.
In addition, the words “the fact” were used, but this is misleading. We cannot be sure that many people want an increase in the minimum wage unless we see evidence of this through a study or survey.
Exercise
Part Four: Further Discussion
Discuss the following with your partner(s).
- Do you think the article should be believed? Why or why not?
- If this article was found on a news website with a different writer, would you still believe it? Why or why not?