← 📝 English as a Second Language
Opinion, attitude and inference
Understanding what writers and speakers think and feel, separating fact from opinion, and matching statements to texts in multiple-matching tasks.
📌 Key points
- A fact can be checked and proved true; an opinion is what someone thinks or feels and cannot be proved.
- Opinions are often signalled by phrases like 'I think', 'in my view', 'it seems' and by evaluative adjectives such as 'wonderful', 'disappointing' or 'pointless'.
- To infer is to work out a meaning that is not stated directly, using clues in the text.
- A writer's attitude (for example enthusiastic, critical, doubtful or neutral) is shown through word choice, especially adjectives and adverbs.
- Contrast words such as 'however', 'but', 'although' and 'on the other hand' often introduce the writer's real view, so read what comes after them carefully.
- In multiple-matching tasks, read all the statements first, then find the text or paragraph that has the same meaning, not just the same words.
- Distractors often repeat a word from the text but change the meaning, for example a text says someone 'almost won' and the statement says they 'won'.
- Hedging words such as 'might', 'perhaps' and 'possibly' show the writer is not certain.
- Check details such as negatives ('not', 'never', 'hardly'), time ('used to', 'now') and quantities ('some', 'all', 'most') before choosing a match.
📖 Key terms
- Fact
- A statement that can be checked and proved to be true.
- Opinion
- A personal belief or judgement that cannot be proved true or false.
- Inference
- A conclusion worked out from clues in a text rather than from what is directly stated.
- Attitude
- The writer's or speaker's feelings or opinion about a subject.
- Tone
- The overall feeling of a text, for example humorous, serious or angry.
- Distractor
- A wrong option designed to look correct, often by repeating words from the text.
- Hedging
- Using cautious words such as 'might' or 'possibly' to avoid stating something as certain.
✏️ Worked example
Read: 'Everyone told me the new museum was a must-see, so I went with high hopes. The building is certainly impressive, but I found the exhibits rather dull.'
Which statement matches the writer's view? A: The museum lived up to her expectations. B: She was disappointed by what was on display.
- Find the writer's overall attitude: she went 'with high hopes'.
- Notice the contrast word but: it introduces her real view of the exhibits.
- 'Rather dull' is a negative opinion about the exhibits (what was on display).
- Statement A is a distractor: she praises the building but not the exhibits, so the museum did not meet her hopes.
- Answer: B — she was disappointed by what was on display.
In matching tasks, never choose an answer just because it uses the same word as the text. Check that the meaning is exactly the same, including negatives and words like 'some' and 'all'.
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