Building and Creating: Distinguishing Fact from Opinion in an Essay

Read the excerpt from "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. I didn't officially graduate from Worcester Polytechnic Institute until years later when I was awarded their honorary Ph.D. By then I'd created and patented many successful inventions. What conclusion can be drawn from the details in this excerpt?

Although he did not graduate from college, Kamen became very successful in his field.

Read the excerpt from "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. When I was twelve years old and Barton, my older brother, was around fifteen, we took over the family basement. At first, I made a darkroom for developing pictures, and Bart was using it as his lab where he was raising about one hundred white rats, removing their thymus glands, and trying to figure out the glands' dysfunction. He wanted pictures taken of his experiment, doing the surgery on rats, and since I already had a darkroom, I took the pictures, though somewhat reluctantly. I didn't like the blood. Which part of the excerpt expresses an opinion

I didn't like the blood.

Which line from "On Becoming an Inventor" supports the idea that Dean's time at Worcester Polytechnic Institute was very useful to him even if he did not graduate?

I found that at college I could get help from my teachers with solving business problems and in learning new techniques for designing new things.

Read the excerpt from "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. I decided to put his entire machine shop in our basement, but there were two problems... One, his shop wouldn't fit in our basement, and two, there was no way the lathe, weighing fifteen hundred pounds, and the milling machine, weighing two thousand pounds, could be carried into the basement. I solved this problem by hiring a contractor to dig a large hole, break open a wall of the basement, enclose the addition with concrete, and add a roof that could be used for building an outside deck to the house. I also enlarged my mother's kitchen and pantry. I now had the entire machine shop in our basement. At the time I was making enough money from my electronic devices to pay for all of this. What conclusion can be drawn from the details in this excerpt?

Kamen's idea to enlarge the basement benefited both his work and his family.

Read the excerpt from "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. Two of Kamen's more recent inventions are the Ibot, a wheelchair that can safely climb stairs, and a self-balancing scooter, called the Segway. The Segway is battery powered and contains five gyroscopes that keep it balanced under almost any circumstance. Kamen believes it may change the way people move around in crowded cities, reducing the amount of car traffic and auto emissions in many parts of the world. Based on this excerpt, what fact supports Kamen's belief that the Segway may change the way people move around crowded cities?

Segways can reduce the amount of car traffic and auto emissions.

Read the excerpt from the introduction for "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. I had just finished making a complicated piece of equipment that was to be used for a show opening in Philadelphia called "Fiorello." When the machine arrived they had trouble wiring it, so instead of going off to college that morning for an orientation, I spent several days at the theater fixing my light/sound equipment. The show received poor reviews, except for the mention by one reviewer of the "special effects," which, he wrote, were "outstanding." Which detail from the excerpt proves that Dean created very good light/sound equipment?

The equipment got great reviews, even though the show did not.

Which of the following statements expresses a fact rather than an opinion?

The school is offering art classes to all of its students.

Read the excerpt from the introduction for "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. Invention is predominantly individualistic. Everything . . . comes from the lone worker who follows the fleeting inspiration of a moment and finally does something that has not been done before. This quote is from the inventor of a three-phase motor, Nikola Tesla. It fits the description in every respect of Dean Kamen, the owner of more than one hundred patents. As a young teenager in Rockville Center, New York, one of four children, whose father was a comic book artist and his mother a schoolteacher, Dean started tinkering with sound and light boxes in his bedroom, "which caused lights to go off and on, and deafening sound to come from his radio," said his mother. Their indulgent parents allowed Dean and his older brother Barton to experiment, raising as many as one hundred live rats and to set up a workshop in their basement on Long Island. Dean stocked the basement laboratory with machinery to help create new audio/visual equipment. This led to his first patent and a sizable financial reward while still in high school. Which line from the excerpt expresses fact rather than opinion?

This led to his first patent and a sizable financial reward while still in high school.

Which of the following statements expresses an opinion rather than a fact?

Thomas Edison was an amazing inventor.

Read the excerpt from "On Becoming an Inventor" by Dean Kamen. My next challenge was that I wanted to make things out of metal, so I became interested in how to use a lathe, a milling machine, and so on. I went to buy this new equipment I thought I'd need and met a man who had a machine shop of his own who was about to retire and move to Florida. He allowed me to visit him after school and on weekends to observe how he used all his tools. I was hooked. When he retired I bought not only all his big equipment but all his little toolboxes as well--they were treasures! Which statement from the excerpt expresses an opinion rather than a fact?

his little tool boxes as well—they were treasures!