Inferenece

TEN STEPS TO ADVANCED READING

John Langan

© 2009 Townsend Press

Chapter Six: Inferences

• Many important ideas in reading are not stated directly.

• Discovering these ideas is called making inferences or drawing conclusions.

A. The dog requires more than one leash to keep it securely tied to the parking meter.

B. The dog has eaten the other dogs tied up to the parking meter.

Which inference is more logically based on the information suggested by the cartoon?

INFERENCES

A. The dog requires more than one leash to keep it securely tied to the parking meter.

B. The dog has eaten the other dogs tied up to the parking meter.


INFERENCES

The dog requires and has only one leash. The other leashes are in his mouth. This is not a valid inference.

Three leashes are in the mouth

of this big, hostile-looking dog. This is a valid inference.

C. The dog is ordinarily a friendly dog.

D. The dog is waiting for its owner to return.


INFERENCES

C. The dog is ordinarily a friendly dog.

D. The dog is waiting for its owner to return.


INFERENCES

The dog does not look friendly and obviously has not been friendly to other dogs. This is not a valid inference.

It is a reasonable inference that the owner who tied up the dog will return—and will be in for a surprise!

Which inference is more logically based on the information provided?

Mark Twain said: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

B. Even old people are capable of learning a great deal.

A. Teenagers tend to think that they know it all and that adults do not.

INFERENCES IN READINGInferences in Short Passages


B. Even old people are capable of learning a great deal.

A. Teenagers tend to think that they know it all and that adults do not.


Experience tells us that teenagers often think they know more than their parents’ generation. Twain’s observation is a humorous statement of this truth. This is a valid inference.

Twain’s age (14) when he thought his father was ignorant and the age (21) at which he is astonished at the “old man’s” learning are clues that it is Twain who has changed, not his father. This is not a valid inference.




C. The older fathers get, the less foolish they become.

D. As a young person matures, he learns to respect the knowledge of adults.




C. The older fathers get, the less foolish they become.

D. As a young person matures, he learns to respect the knowledge of adults.

There is nothing in the statement to support the inference that Twain’s father was actually foolish. It is Twain’s viewpoint that has changed, not his father. This is not a valid inference.

Experience tells us that when young people begin to face the same life challenges that adults face, they gain new respect for the knowledge adults possess. Clearly, as Twain reached manhood, he began to respect his father. This is a valid inference.


Let’s suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. You are excited about your trip, but on the way to the airport, the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crash—and all passengers and crew will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. The reporter adds that the airlines have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine—with its progressive emphysema and several types of cancer—kills about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded, 200-passenger jets with full crews crashing each and every day—leaving no survivors. Who in their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

INFERENCES IN READING

Which inference is more firmly based on the information in the passage?

A. The author implies that many Americans don’t like to think about the harmful effects of smoking.

B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans will smoke in the future.

Inferences in Paragraphs




A. The author implies that many Americans don’t like to think about the harmful effects of smoking.

B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans will smoke in the future.


This is a logical inference. The author presents statistics showing the harmful effects of smoking. Life experience tells us that few people like to think about the negative consequences of their behavior.

This is not a logical inference. There is nothing in the passage to indicate that fewer Americans will smoke in the future.




C. The author suggests that too many people risk their lives by smoking.

D. The author suggests that people would be willing to take their chances on a plane crash if the odds are in their favor.





C. The author suggests that too many people risk their lives by smoking.


This is a logical inference. The author presents statistical evidence that the nicotine in cigarettes kills about 400,000 Americans each year.

This is not a logical inference. The authors says that airports would be silent on a day when five jets were to be hijacked.

D. The author suggests that people would be willing to take their chances on a plane crash if the odds are in their favor.




E. This excerpt is probably from a business textbook.

F. This excerpt is probably from a textbook that deals with social problems.





E. This excerpt is probably from a business textbook.

F. This excerpt is probably from a textbook that deals with social problems.


This is not a logical inference. The focus of the passage is on health, not business.

This is a logical inference. Clearly any behavior that kills 400,000 Americans each year is a social problem.

INFERENCES IN READINGGuidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of available information.As much as possible, base your inferences on facts.

2 Use your background information and experience to help you in making

inferences. The more you know about a subject, the better your

inferences are likely to be. 3 Consider the alternatives.

Don’t simply accept the first inference that comes to mind.

INFERENCES IN LITERATURE

Inferences are very important in reading literature.

A nonfiction writer might write: It would be really hard to feel what others feel. It’s better

not to know.

In the novel Middlemarch, the respected English novelist George Eliot writes this:

If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, we walk about well wadded with stupidity. • Writers of factual material directly state much of

what they mean. • Writers of fiction show what they mean.

INFERENCES IN LITERATURE

• Creative writers often use comparisons known as figures of speech to imply their meanings. • The two most common figures of speech are

similes and metaphors.

A Note on Figures of Speech

Simile — a comparison introduced with like, as, or as if.

In the cartoon, Snoopy writes about a pair of beautiful eyes that they are “like two supper dishes.” (The joke, of course, is that the comparison is hardly a flattering one.)

INFERENCES IN LITERATUREA Note on Figures of Speech

PEANUTS:©United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

In the quotation from Middlemarch, George Eliot uses two similes.


If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.

• Abandoned houses lined the city street like tombstones.

• The look the hostess gave me was as welcoming as a glass of ice water in my face.

• The used car salesman attached himself to prospective customers like Velcro.

Other Examples of Similes

Metaphor — an implied comparison, with like, as, or as if omitted.

• The 23rd Psalm in the Bible is the source of some of the world’s best-known metaphors, including “The Lord is my shepherd.”

The comparison suggests that God is like a shepherd who looks after his sheep.


• The candidate waded into a sea of people to shake hands.

• The movie was a bomb.

• Her disapproval was an ice pick to my heart.

• The algebra problems were a forest of tiny enemies, jeering at me from the page.

Other Examples of Metaphors


• Just as pictures and reading material require inferences, so do tables and graphs.

• To infer the ideas presented in tables and graphs, you must consider all the

information presented.

INFERENCES IN TABLES AND GRAPHS


1 Read the title. What is the title of this graph?

Steps in Reading a Table or Graph


1 Read the title.

Stages of sleep

STAGES OF SLEEP

What is the title of this graph?



2 Check the source. What is the source of this graph?



Dianne Hales, An Invitation to Health, 11th edition

2 Check the source.

Source: Dianne Hales, An Invitation to Health, 11th edition

What is the source of this graph?


3 Read any captions at the top, the side, or underneath that tell exactly what each column, line, bar, number, or other item represents.


Bodyactivit

y

Time (hours)

Sta

ge o

f sl

eep

AwakePeriods of rapid eye

movement

Captions



Which inference is more logically based on the graph?

A. Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

B. Our REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs at about the same time as our deepest sleep.



A. Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

B. Our REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs at about the same time as our deepest sleep.

The graph shows that we are in our deepest sleep in the first three hours of the sleep cycle. This is a valid inference.

The graph shows that our REM sleep occurs in the second part of our sleep cycle rather than at the time of our deepest sleep. This is not a valid inference.



D. Our body activity is slowest during the deepest part of our sleep.

C. We spend over half of our sleep time in REM sleep.



D. Our body activity is slowest during the deepest part of our sleep.

C. We spend over half of our sleep time in REM sleep.

The “body activity” is least active during the deepest part of our sleep, in the first part of the sleep cycle. This is a valid inference.

The graph shows that we spend about two hours in REM sleep. This is not a valid inference.



F. For the most part, we stay in one stage of sleep during the sleep cycle.

E. It takes less than an hour to reach the deepest level of sleep.



F. For the most part, we stay in one stage of sleep during the sleep cycle.

E. It takes less than an hour to reach the deepest level of sleep.

The graph shows that we move back and forth between four stages of sleep during our sleep cycle. This is not a valid inference.

The graph shows that we can descend to the deepest level of sleep within a half hour or so. This is a valid inference.

CHAPTER REVIEW In this chapter, you learned the following:

• Many important ideas in reading are not stated directly, but must be inferred. To make inferences about implied ideas, use the information provided as well as your own experience and logic.

• Inferences are also a key part of reading literature and such visual material as cartoons, tables, and graphs.

The next chapter—Chapter 7—will help make you aware of an author’s purpose and tone.

Inferenece

Education

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