fact
part of speech
noun (fact, facts)
meaning for a pupil
1) A fact is something that is known to be true and can be checked. A week is 7 days is a fact. tree →
2) Facts are different from opinions, which are what someone thinks or feels. tree →
3) In fact means really, actually. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: a known statement; «maths facts» are the basic sums and times tables; a fact gives a fixed number to use, like a week has 7 days or a year has 12 months. In science and reading: fact or opinion, fact files, true facts in non-fiction books. Phrases: in fact, as a matter of fact, fact or opinion, number facts, times table facts, fun fact.
examples
- Learn your times table facts. tree →
- She knows 20 addition facts. tree →
- Use the fact that 1 week = 7 days. tree →
- Which fact helps you solve 6 × 7? tree →
- It is a fact that water freezes at 0 °C. tree →
- «Chocolate is the best food» is an opinion, not a fact. tree →
- In fact, the whale is a mammal, not a fish. tree →
- Here is a fun fact: an octopus has three hearts. tree →
- We made a fact file about tigers. tree →
- In fact he could cure anything. tree →
note
Countable: a fact, facts. «Fact» is not the same as «opinion». A fact gives a fixed number to use (7 days in a week). No operation by itself. Trap: check facts; something written online is not always a fact.
In the corpora
- Usually the facts are small and boring: a car, a van, an ambulance, a police car for twenty minutes.
- «I'm not saying anything, but…» is still saying something; it hints at a story without any facts.
- One complaint is not a pattern; get facts before you warn people off a business.
- At the bottom are the facts: dates, official statements from the Palace, things filmed for everyone to see.
- The wedding is a fact the whole world watched.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fact» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.