Glossary
fact and opinion
A fact can be checked and shown true or false; an opinion is a judgment, preference or prediction that a reader could reasonably dispute.
A fact is a statement that can be verified — measured, counted, looked up — and shown to be either true or false. An opinion is a judgment, a preference or a prediction that a reasonable person could argue with. The unit opened with twelve beds is a fact; the unit is understaffed is an opinion, even when the writer can support it with facts. Three markers give the answer away: judgment words such as best, should, too, wasteful; comparatives with no standard given (a better system); and predictions about what will happen. Two complications are worth knowing because the exam uses them. A sentence can mix the two — a verifiable number plus a loaded adjective — and the question will ask about the part it names, not the whole sentence. And a supported opinion is still an opinion: evidence raises the quality of the argument, it does not turn a claim into a fact.
Taught in
Related terms
- tone — Tone is the writer's attitude toward the subject, carried by word choice and sentence shape rather than stated outright.
- supporting detail — A supporting detail is a fact, example or reason that holds up the main idea of a passage rather than adding a new point of its own.
- author purpose — Author purpose is the reason a passage was written — to inform, to explain, to persuade, to entertain or to describe.
- word choice — Word choice is the writer's selection of words, which carries tone and shades meaning beyond a word's plain dictionary sense.
Source: The reading-comprehension guide in this course: the three skills above are the ones that guide teaches, and every definition is written for this course in our own words, with no publisher's prose reproduced. Elsevier's own HESI A2 page, which names reading comprehension among the areas the exam covers, is the exam-side source. (Elsevier HESI A2 page accessed 2026-10-23; definitions written 2026-10-27)