Cambridge Primary Checkpoint 0844 · Topic 2 of 10

Reading non-fiction

Understanding information texts: their purpose and features, and telling facts from opinions.

📌 Key points

Non-fiction gives real information. Its purpose may be to inform, explain, instruct or persuade.
Common features: headings and subheadings, bullet points, pictures with captions, diagrams, tables and a glossary.
A fact can be checked and proved true. An opinion is what someone thinks or feels.
Opinion words include: I think, best, worst, amazing, terrible, should and beautiful.
Newspaper reports answer who, what, where, when, why and how, and are mostly written in the past tense.
Instructions use numbered steps and imperative (bossy) verbs such as mix, cut and press.
Persuasive texts use emotive words, rhetorical questions and facts or numbers to convince the reader.
Skim to get the main idea quickly; scan to find a particular word, name or number.

Purpose: The reason a text was written, e.g. to inform or to persuade.
Fact: Something that can be checked and proved true.
Opinion: What someone thinks or feels; others may disagree.
Caption: A short piece of text that explains a picture.
Glossary: A list of special words and their meanings, usually at the back of a book.
Subheading: A small heading that tells you what one section is about.
Skimming: Reading quickly to get the main idea.
Scanning: Looking quickly through a text for a particular word or number.

Read: 'Hill Park opened in 1998. It has 300 trees and a lake. It is the most beautiful park in the city.'
Find one fact and one opinion.

A fact can be checked: 'Hill Park opened in 1998' could be checked in records.
'It has 300 trees and a lake' is also a fact, because the trees could be counted.
'The most beautiful park in the city' is what the writer thinks. Other people may disagree, so it is an opinion.
Answer: Fact: Hill Park opened in 1998. Opinion: it is the most beautiful park in the city.

💡 Test tip

To spot an opinion, ask yourself: could someone disagree with this? If yes, it is probably an opinion.

Test yourself8 questions from a bank of 21. A new mix every time.