Fact or Opinion?

When I was with some friends talking about English grammar, we had a little debate about the use of simple present tense. We had a difficulty in defining whether some statements belonged to facts or opinions. According to Azar (1989), it is used for general statements of fact and to express everyday activity. One example of general statements of fact is: The moon shines at night. This statement is, no doubt, a very true fact. Everybody in this world will agree to that fact.

Then one of my friends gave an example of fact statement: Justin Beiber sings perfectly. Because I am not a fan of Justin Beiber, I protested. I said that it was only an opinion, not a fact. But she insisted that it was a fact. Then I realized why she made that statement. It was because she adored him so much.

After some hilarious debate, we finally concluded that simple present tense is also used to express an opinion. A statement like Chris Evans is handsome is just an opinion. For ladies who love to look at his face, including me, that statement feels like a fact. But for others who don't adore him or even envy him will say that the statement is just an opinion.

For those who can really see that the earth is round like a ball, there comes the general statement of fact that the earth is round. So we don't have to argue with those who cannot really see that the earth is round. Those people will make a statement like this: The earth is not round. The earth is flat.(Or the earth feels flat.)

Like what Marcus Aurelius said long long time ago: Everything we hear is an opinion; not a fact. Everything we see is perspective; not the truth.