1 Fact and Opinion Practice
Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question(s).
Rhino Review
The rhinoceros is a curious-looking animal. It looks like an elephant, but it has no trunk. A rhino can weigh up to 8,000 pounds. Did you know that there are five kinds of rhinos living today? These include the black rhino and white rhino, which live in Africa and have two horns. The other three kinds live in Asia. Rhinos use their horns in battles with their enemies like lions, tigers, and hyenas.
A long time ago, rhinos lived in America and Europe, too, but people began hunting them. Some cultures believed that a rhino horn ground into powder would break fevers and help people recover from food poisoning. Hunters would hunt rhinos and use the horns for medicine. It became illegal to hunt rhinos. It is important to keep protecting them.
1. Which sentence from the passage is an OPINION?
a) The rhinoceros is a curious-looking animal.
b) The elephant is the only mammal bigger than the white rhino.
c) Did you know that there are five kinds of rhinos living today?
2. Which of the following sentences from the passage is a FACT?
a) The rhinoceros is a curios-looking animal.
b) Some cultures believe that a rhino horn ground into powder would break fevers and help people recover from food poisoning.
c) It is important to keep protecting them.
3. The first paragraph in “Rhino Review”______.
a) is the author’s opinion about the importance of rhinos
b) is a detailed list of facts about rhinos
c) is an explanation as to why rhinos are hunted
Rosalind Franklin
In the early 1950’s, a great deal was known about DNA. It was known that DNA is the material that stores information needed to create a living thing. It was not known what DNA looked like, or how it worked. Two men credited with the discovery of DNA are James Watson and Francis Crick. Another important, yet unknown, person in this discovery was Rosalind Franklin. She earned her graduate degree at Cambridge University and was the first to uncover the basic structure of DNA.
After her discovery was presented at a meeting, her work has given to her competitors, Watson and Crick. The scientists used her data and that of other scientists to build their model of DNA’s structure in 1953. Without Rosalind Franklin, Watson and Crick would never have won the Nobel Prize. Rosalind Franklin was not given credit for her very important role in this discovery. She died early, at age 37, from cancer.
4. Which sentence from the passage is an OPINION of the author?
a) Without Franklin, Watson and Crick would never have won the Nobel Prize.
b) It was known that DNA is the material that stores information needed to create a living thing.
c) The scientist used her data and that of other scientists to build a model of DNA’s structure in 1953.
5. After reading the passage “Rosalind Franklin”, it is evident that the author______.
a) believes that Watson and Crick stole her data on DNA.
b) proves that Rosalind Franklin was the only scientist to discover DNA.
c) believes that Rosalind Franklin was the most influential in the discovery of DNA.
6. Which of the following sentences from the passage is a FACT?
a) Rosalind Franklin earned her graduate degree from Cambridge University.
b) Without Franklin, Watson and Crick would never have won the Noble Prize.
c) It is unfortunate that Franklin was not given credit for her very important role in this discovery.
Answer Key:
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. A
5. C
6. B
(BB) Team Time Practice Passages Fernandez 2011