FACTUAL INFORMATION
Many readers are under the impression that when reading a text, all the ideas and information presented are always correct. This impression is not always true. Informational texts are based on the author's ideas, beliefs, opinions or facts from reliable sources.
Authors present their ideas and support to them with specific reasons and evidence to convince the reader. Thus, a reader should evaluate the reasons and evidence before giving a judgment.
The information used by an author in giving his/her reasons or evidence can be classified according to:
1. Factual information are those solely deal with facts. These are short, non- explanatory, and rarely give in-depth backgroud on a topic. These statements are also those that can be verified or proven to be true or false.
Example of Factual Information:
- The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its three branches.
- Philippines is an island country of Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean.
- Eighty percent (80%) of the 3, 886 respondents aged 13-24 years had experienced some form of violence in their lifetime.
2. Subjective content or information are those which come from only one point of view. It involves judgement, feeling, opinion, intuition or emotion rather than factual information. Opinions are useful to persuade, but becareful readers and listeners will notice and demand evidence to back them up.
Example of Subjective Information:
- "Beautiful Girls" was an entertaining show that should have never been canceled.
- Yellow is the best color among all the colors.
- Strawberries taste better than blueberries.
We need to analyze the type of information used by the author in giving reasons and evidence in his text to understand the purpose of the text-to persuade, to inform or to entertain.