Separate facts, assumptions, opinions, and unknowns in a document
Sorts every important claim in a document, plan, or pitch into fact, assumption, opinion, or unknown, so you know what to trust and test.
The prompt
Analyze the material below and separate what is known from what is assumed or believed.
Material: [PASTE - e.g. business case, proposal, vendor pitch, report, email thread]
What I'm using it for: [e.g. "deciding whether to approve the budget"]
Classify every important statement:
- Fact - verifiable, with evidence or a source given in the material.
- Assumption - treated as true but not shown (e.g. forecasts, "customers will...", "this will save...").
- Opinion - a judgment, preference, or interpretation.
- Unknown - something important the material doesn't address or admits it doesn't know.
Return:
1. Classification table: | Statement (quoted or paraphrased) | Type | Evidence given | How it could be verified or tested | Importance to my decision (high / medium / low) |
2. Riskiest assumptions - the 3-5 assumptions that, if wrong, would most change the conclusion.
3. Opinions dressed as facts - statements written as certain that are really judgments.
4. Critical unknowns - what I should find out before relying on this, and who could tell me.
5. Overall reliability - a short, plain assessment of how much the conclusion rests on facts vs. assumptions.
Rules:
- Classify based on what the material shows, not whether you agree with it.
- Don't verify facts from memory as if checked; say "verify against [type of source]".
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Thinking & Decisions prompts
What to fill in
- e.g. "deciding whether to approve the budget"
- type of source
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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