Making Inferences

English INCVPS

What does it mean to make an inference?

Making an inference is the same thing as reading between the lines.  You must take the information the author gives you as well as the information that you already know ~ your prior knowledge ~ to come up with a logical idea about the author’s intent. 

When you make an inference, you need to do more than gather the facts the author gives you - you need to think about what those facts mean. Essentially, when you make an inference, you’re choosing the most likely explanation based on the facts you’ve been given.

Making an inference is similar to making an educated guess based on facts given in the reading.

dspsweb@cuesta.edu

Let’s practice!

Read each of the following situations. Based on the facts that you’re given,

make an inference ~ a logical conclusion ~ about each.

It was a lovely Sunday morning, and 10 year old David and 7 year old Mariah were busy downstairs preparing breakfast for their mother. They wanted to surprise her, so they got up extra early to do this. On her plate they put scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and orange wedges. This was a lot of work, thought Mariah. Good thing they only did this once a year!

Based on the information you’ve been given, and your own prior knowledge, what can you infer?

Let’s look at the facts we’ve been given.

It’s a Sunday morning.

The children are making breakfast.

They want to surprise her.

They do this only once a year.

Based on these facts, what prior knowledge can we apply?

Think about what occurs only once a year, on a Sunday, especially for mom, where her children usually try to do something special for her.

If you inferred that this special Sunday breakfast event must be Mother’s Day,

You’re correct!

Let’s try one more. This time it’s from a short story you’ve already read called “The Secret Life of

Walter Mitty”

Something struck his shoulder. “I’ve been looking all over this hotel for you,” said Mrs. Mitty. “Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How did you expect me to find you?” “Things close in,” said Walter Mitty vaguely. “What?” Mrs. Mitty said. “Did you get the what’s-its-name? The puppy biscuit? What’s in that box?” “Overshoes,” said Mitty. “Couldn’t you have put them on in the store?” “I was thinking,” said Walter Mitty. “Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?” She looked at him. “I’m going to take your temperature when I get you home,” she said.

They went out through the revolving doors that made a faintly derisive whistling sound

when you pushed them. It was two blocks to the parking lot. At the drugstore on the corner she said, “Wait here for me. I forgot something. I won’t be a minute.” She was more than a minute. Walter Mitty lighted a cigarette. It began to rain, rain with sleet in it. He stood up against the wall of the drugstore, smoking. . . . He put his shoulders back and his heels together. “To hell with the handkerchief,” said Walter Mitty scornfully. He took one last drag on his cigarette and snapped it away. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.

Based on this excerpt, as well as any prior knowledge you may have (about bickering couples, about retired older men who are bored and have little to do other than what their wives ask them), what inferences ~ logical conclusions ~ can you make about Mitty’s state of mind?

While it may seem a bit like he’s losing his mind, he also clearly has a

longing for adventure!

What can we infer about his relationship with his wife?

What do we know?

We know based on how she speaks to him that she is very demanding and bossy.

What inferences can we make?Look closely at these details.

His final dream has him standing in front of a firing squad (this could be his wife, who’s always rude and ‘shoots him down’).

“his shoulders (are) back and his heels (are) together” (this suggests that he is standing proud and tall despite his fate)

He snaps his cigarette away from him, and he has a fleeting smile as he faces the firing squad. (there’s sort of a “bring-it-on” attitude as he makes these two gestures. In other words, he’s not afraid.)

Let’s look at the vocabulary

Despite his fate, he is “proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.”

This suggests that while his wife may seem dominating and overbearing, she has not defeated him. Despite his seeming weakness around her, he feels proud and disdainful (superior, as if she is not worthy) toward her. He is also a bit inscrutable, or mysterious, which gives him the upper hand as only he knows what he’s thinking. Most importantly, the text tells us that he is Undefeated with a capital U!

You probably make inferences every day of your life without even realizing it! We take in the world around us and come to conclusions based on what we see, hear and already know.

Now, with a little thought and attention to the texts, you can apply what you do naturally in your day to day life to what you’re reading for your English I class!

Have fun, and remember what you’ve learned!