Making Inferences

1. Making Inferences This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

2. Making Inferences • Sometimes authors like to have their readers think about what they are trying to state in their texts. • Finding out what these ideas are is called making inferences. • We make inferences all the time. For example, if we hear a dog barking outside, we might infer that someone is playing with his/her dog. When we meet someone, and they have a smile on their face, we might think they are happy. • Making inferences is similar to making predictions.

3. Making Inferences • When you make an inference, you make it according to what you already know. • For example, if you look at the pictures in Tommy Tales book 1, you can make several inferences based on what you already have experiences on. • For example: Look at page 2 and 3 in Tommy Tales book 1. From the picture on page 2, one can infer that Taffy ahs brought a remote control to Tommy. One can also infer that Tommy and Taffy are playing outside because you can see a bird and grass.

4. Making Inferences • On page 3, I can infer that Tommy is curious about the remote control because he is looking at it and making the action of pressing the buttons.

5. Making Inferences • In Week 2 we talked about Vocabulary in Context. For example: In the United States, shaking hands is the appropriate way to greet someone; in China bowing is the right way. In this sentence the word appropriate is not defined but it does suggest that “right” has a close meaning to it. Therefore we can infer from this sentences that appropriate means “right” or “proper”. • When you are reading any type of text, sometimes not all the ideas will be stated. In order to make inferences you must use clues by the writer and apply your own experience, and understanding.

6. Making Inferences • For example: Look at page 6 and 8 from Tommy Tales book 1: … “Perhaps I should point the clicker at myself and press,” he thought. He turned the clicker around and pressed “replay”. Suddenly, the clicker made a loud screeching noise. There was a flash of blue light and thick smoke. He felt himself leave the ground. He turned upside down. Everything went black. Tommy fell to the ground with a bump….. From this text one can infer that Tommy has passed the right button and he has been taken to another place. One can infer this because the clicker did the same thing when taffy and Lucy disappeared.

7. How can you make inferences? • Look at the facts in the text. When you look at the facts provided in the text you can make an inference. • Use your background knowledge, experience, and common sense. Remember that you may already know what is happening because of your own knowledge, experience and common sense. • Make sure you examine all the facts before you make an inference. Don’t try to make an inference based on little information. Carefully examine all the facts before you make an inference.

8. References Broderick, Bill (2000). Groundwork For College Reading. New Jersey: Townsend Press.