Read the passage. Then, answer the questions that follow. Our school’s mission statement stresses community, cooperation, and pe
rsonal and intellectual growth. But one of our school’s practices—selecting a valedictorian and salutatorian each year—does not support our mission. This practice is divisive, it is unfair, it is archaic. So let’s end it now! For some students, jockeying for these positions begins when they start high school. They choose classes they can ace, as well as AP and IB courses that boost their grade-point averages, rather than ones that excite their interest or challenge them. They pay plenty and spend hours in classes that promise to raise standardized test scores. Successful candidates are routinely accused of gaming the system. The formula for selecting the two “top” students is complex; selection can turn on several zeroes after a decimal point. At several schools around the country, students who lost out as valedictorian have sued. Is this the kind of situation we want to encourage at our school? Which of the following sentences most clearly expresses an opinion? A. Our school’s mission statement stresses community, cooperation, and personal and intellectual growth. B. This practice is divisive, it is unfair, it is archaic. C. They pay plenty and spend hours in classes that promise to raise standardized test scores. D. The formula for selecting the two “top” students is complex; selection can turn on several zeroes after a decimal point.
The answer to the question "Which of the following sentences most clearly expresses an opinion?" is B.
This practice is divisive, it is unfair, it is archaic.
The word unfair is a key word to knowing that is in opinion, because there is no factual evidence to tell you that it is fair or unfair. Opinions can be backed by facts, but can not be proven.
Awnser: Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by saying that he agrees with the motto, "That government is best which governs least." Indeed, he says, men will someday be able to have a government that does not govern at all. As it is, government rarely proves useful or efficient. It is often "mistreat and unnatural" so that it no longer represents the will of the people. The Mexican-American War illustrates this phenomenon.
