FACTS: Deal with pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification. The key word here is “verification”. A fact is a statement that can be ‘verified’, i.e. a fact is either true or false. Facts are statements that may involve numbers, natural phenomena, dates etc. The characteristics of the statements classified as facts are: ∙Made after observation or experience. An event cannot become a fact unless it has occurred. ∙Confined to what one observes; cannot be made about the future. ∙Limited number possible. ∙Not perception dependent. A fact will be agreed to by every person. It does not change from person to person. ∙Tends to bring people together in agreement. Examples: 1)Nearly 2 lac students took CAT last year. 2)Life exists on other planets (although physically not possible to verify, this statement will be either true or false). 3)I like Pink Floyd more than Metallica (It may not seem so, but this statement is either true or false. Either I like Pink Floyd more than Metallica or I don’t). 4)The legislature is advocating vigorously against intrusion of judiciary in parliamentary affairs. 5)A football field is 100 yards long. NOTE: Notice the difference when a sentence contains subjective or abstract expressions 6)The music was very loud (NOT a fact as the loudness might vary from person to person). 7)I found the music very loud (A fact as it is either a truth or a lie. I must
