For example, Mary has to wear one of her three dresses tonight. She has a blue dress, a red
dress, and an orange dress. The orange and red dresses are at the cleaners. Therefore, you
can conclude she will wear the blue dress. When you read a story, you can conclude things
about characters and events from the information given in the story.
Important Strategies for Making Inferences: 1. Read the text carefully.
2. Look for clues such as pictures, the title, body language, vocabulary and the situation.
3. Look whether there are any problems or obstacles.
4. Use background knowledge and what you already know about a topic.
5. Make sure your inference is logical and well-reasoned.
Example 1 When the wheels touched the ground, Bill began to feel excited. He could hardly wait to get off
and to see his family again.
Inference: Bill was on an airplane.
Example 2 Early this morning, Dad's car was very dirty. Tom and I decided to do something about it.
We worked hard on it, and now Dad's car is clean and shiny.
Inference: We washed and polished the car.