Skills: Inference

What’s so funny?

What is inference?

• It is the process of reaching a conclusion/an understanding about an issue.(Issue: can be an event, a situation, a person)

• It is different from a description/observation.

• The issue is usually stated in the question.

Possible inference questions

• What does the source tell you about _________? • What is the author’s attitude about ________? • What does source A tell you about _________?

(it gives you a clue what to look out for when you read the source)

What is required in an answer?

• 2 inferences using PEE. – Point (inference)– Explanation– Evidence

(description of the picture)

The picture tells me that the boy should not be in the school. (Point/inference)This is because the boy is not gifted at all. (Explanation)I know this because in the cartoon, he is trying to push the door to get into the school even though the sign on the door says ‘Pull’.(Evidence)

What you can use to help with your inference?

• provenance• taglines• contextual knowledge

Mr/Miss Detectives• In pairs, you have to match the pictures to the

most appropriate tagline. • Choose one picture and the tagline. • Write a short paragraph explaining why the

picture match the tagline– using PEE.

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

#1 #2

#3#4

The tagline for picture #3 is ‘Fish - 2, Cat – 0’. This is because the cat is probably hungry, and tried to eat the fish, a piranha. But the cat failed two times. This can be seen by the crutches that the cat has, and the way the cat is staring at the piranha, which is a carnivorous fish.

The tagline for picture #3 is ‘Fish - 2, Cat – 0’. This is because the cat is probably hungry, and tried to eat the fish, a piranha. But the cat failed two times. This can be seen by the crutches that the cat has, and the way the cat is staring at the piranha, which is a carnivorous fish.

Explanation

Evidence(description of the picture)

Point (Inference)

#1 #2

#3#4

Learning point:

• It is important to always important to provide evidence for your inference.

• There can be more than 1 inferences for the same picture/textual source. The inference is correct as long as you can provide good evidence/reason.

Study Source A. What is the author trying to say about the race riots of 1964? [5marks]

July 21, 1964 was a black day in Singapore’s history, when an outbreak of racial rioting was sparked off during a Prophet Muhammad’s birthday procession. In all, 23 people died and 454 were injured in the violence that happened. The riots were to have a negative impact for future cooperation between People Action’s Party (PAP) and the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). They contributed to the worsening of relations between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and increase the possibility for the island’s separation in August 1965.

Source A. An account of the 1964 race riots in Singapore.